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POPULAR EDUCATION: 



FOR THE USE OF 



PARENTS AND TEACHERS 



~'! 



AND FOE. 



YOUNG PERSONS OF BOTH SEXES 



PREPARED AND PUBLISHED 



EN ACCORDANCE WITH A. RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE AND 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE 



State of illkijiyan. 



v 



BY IRA MAYHEW, A.M., 

ZiATB SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 



THIRD EDITION. 



NEW YORK: 

PUBLISHED BY DANIEL BURGESS & CO., 

[late cady and burgess] 

60johnstreet. 
185 5. 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight 

hundred and fifty, by 

Ira Mayhew, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 

District of Michigan. 



0tate of JJlufjigan: 

House of Representatives, ) 
Lansing, February 27th, 1849. > 

Hon. Ira Mayhew, Superintendent of Public Instruction: 
Sir: I am instructed by the House of Representatives to transmit 
to you the following preamble and resolution, and to respectfully inform 
you that the same were this day unanimously adopted by the House, 
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

A. W. Hovet, Clerk of the House of Representatives. 

Whereas, In the opinion of this House, a Manual on the subject of 
Popular Education, embracing such considerations as shall have a tend- 
ency to arouse the popular mind to a due appreciation of the import- 
ance — in a political, social, moral, and religious point of view — of se- 
curing to every child in all our borders a good common school educa- 
tion, together with such instructions to citizens and teachers as shall 
constitute a directory to the highest improvement of which our primary 
schools are susceptible, is a desideratum ; therefore, 

Resolved, by the House of Representatives of the State of Michigan, 
That the Hon. Ira Mayhew, the present Superintendent of Public In- 
struction in this state, be requested to prepare for publication, in book 
form, the various matters set forth in his public Lectures, delivered by 
request of the Legislature, in the Hall of the House, during the present 
session, together with such other matter as, in his judgment, would 
tend to the further improvement of our system of public instruction ; to 
the end that the necessary information in regard to this subject may 
be diffused throughout the state and nation. 

# * # A Preamble and Resolution similar to the preceding were like- 
wise adopted by the Senate. 



Notices of the First Edition. 



This is an exceedingly valuable work, and should be read by all 
parents and teachers — all school-committee men and legislators. 
The author regards children as animals gifted with intellect, instead 
of intellects wasted on animals. He advocates the education of the 
whole compound being, and consequently talks very differently from 
the old-fashioned lecturers about cultivating the mind and teaching 
the young idea how to shoot. He talks about bathing-tubs, and soap 
and. water as essential means of education. He preaches the import- 
ance of food and air. He enters into the philosophy of educating the 
whole body as a substratum for educating mind. — Boston Chronotype. 



This is an admirable work, whose general circulation would be 
attended with the best results. It is practical, earnest, and abounds 
in facts and illustrations well adapted for popular effect. The great 
importance of Popular Education — the moral, social, and economical 
benefits of it — the right kind of education, and the best way of 
securing it, are dwelt upon with an enlargement of view and an ear- 
nestness of manner, which could only have been attained by experi- 
ence and thought. It is a work for circulation ; and the friends of 
free education could hardly do a better thing than to set the volume 
freely at work in the community at large. — N. Y. Evangelist. 



We commend this work to the study of all who feel an interest in 
education. The subject is thoroughly canvassed, and we sincerely 
wish that every man in Kentucky would read it. — Louisville Courier. 



This is not a new work ; but it is one that will never be old. 
Most works in a few years become insipid, or are supplanted by some 
new improvement ; but we are inclined to the opinion that it will be 
a long time before this work is superseded. So long as there are 
men to be trained physically and mentally, so long will there be a 
necessity for this inestimable work, which is a credit to the author 
and the age. We have been astonished at its richness. Every page 
has an excellence. — Monthly Literary Miscellany. 

For additional Notices, see the 468th and following pages. 



PREFACE. 



Who is sufficient for these things? is a question 
which any one may well ask when sitting down to the 
preparation of a treatise on popular education. The 
author of this work would have shrunk from the under- 
taking, but from deference to the judgment of the hon- 
orable body that unanimously invited its preparation. 
He has also been encouraged not a little by many kind 
friends, one of whom, distinguished for his labors in 
the department of public instruction, writing from New 
England, says, " I rejoice at your good beginnings at 
the West. You have a noble and inspiring field of ac- 
tion. ' No pent-up Utica contracts your powers.' I 
beseech you, fail not to fill it with your glorious edu- 
cational truth, though you should pour out your spirit 
and your life to do so." 

The duties required by law of the Superintendent 
of Public Instruction in the State of Michigan are com- 
paratively few. The author, however, five years ago, 
and soon after entering upon the discharge of those 
duties, undertook voluntary labors for the purpose of 
awakening a deeper interest with all classes of the 
community in behalf of common schools, and of inspir- 
ing confidence in their redeeming power, when improv- 



Vlll PREFACE. - 

ed as they may be, constituting, as they do, the only re- 
liable instrumentality for the proper training of the ris- 
ing generation. These labors, which were hailed as 
promising great usefulness, and which were prosecuted 
in every county of the state, were every where receiv- 
ed with unexpected favor, and constitute the founda- 
tion of the present volume. Many of the subjects then 
discussed are here greatly amplified. 

Among the lectures referred to in the resolution un- 
der which this work has been undertaken, was one on 
the " Michigan School System." But as the Conven- 
tion for the revision of the Constitution of this state is 
now in session, it has been deemed advisable to omit, 
in this connection, the extensive consideration of the 
details of that system. This may constitute the theme 
of a small manual which shall hereafter appear. 

In the present volume the author has endeavored 
so to present the subject of popular education, which 
should have reference to the whole man — the body, the 
mind, and the heart — and so to unfold its nature, ad- 
vantages, and claims, as to make it every where ac- 
ceptable. Nay, more, he would have a good common 
education considered as the inalienable right of every 
child in the community, and have it placed first among 
the necessaries of life. For the better accomplishment 
of his object, he has freely drawn from the writings of 
practical educators, his aim being usefulness rather 
than originality. This course has been adopted, in 
some instances, for the sole purpose of enforcing the 
sentiments inculcated by the authority of the names 



PREFACE. IX 

introduced. Acknowledgments have generally been 
made in the body of the work. These may have been 
unintentionally omitted in some instances, and especial- 
ly in those portions of the work which were written 
several years ago, and the sources whence information 
was drawn are now unknown. 

An examination of the table of contents, and espe- 
cially of the index at the end of the volume, will show 
the range of subjects considered, and their adaptation 
to the wants and necessities, I may say, of the several 
classes of persons named in the title-page, for whose 
use it was undertaken. Written, as it has been, for 
Parents and Teachers, and for Young Persons of both 
sexes, it is what its title implies — a treatise on Popu- 
lar Education — and is equally applicable to the wants 
of families and schools in every portion of our wide-' 
spread country. 

With all its imperfections, of which no one can be 
more sensible than the author, this volume is given to 
the public, with the hope that it may contribute, in 
some degree, to advance the work of general educa- 
tion in the United States, but more especially in the 

State of Michigan. 

Ira Mayhew. 

Monroe, Mich., July 4th, 1850. 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



In what does a correct education consist ? and, How can this 
education be best secured to the successive generations of men ? 
In other words, What course of training is best calculated to 
fit man for the discharge of the various duties incumbent on 
him as a citizen of the world that now is, and as a probationer 
for that which is to come ? In considering these questions 
previously to the preparation of this volume, the author was 
led to treat the subject very differently from what most writers 
that preceded him had done. 

In the present state of being, the mind, which constitutes 
tiie real man, dwells in a material body, for the purposes of 
development and culture, that it may thereby be prepared to 
enter most advantageously upon that higher life which awaits 
us in the future. The body, properly developed, with its five 
senses all in a state of healthy action, is the medium, and the 
only medium, through which a correct knowledge of God, as 
manifest in the material world, can be communicated to, and 
his likeness daguerreotyped upon, the mind. Hence the great 
prominence given to physical culture, and the right education 
of the senses, as constituting the true substratum for symmetri- 
cal and most successful mental development. It is this feature 
that has given the work peculiar value in the estimation of 
many practical educators, whose opinions are highly prized in 
every enlightened community. 

I. M. 



PUBLISHERS' ANNOUNCEMENT. 



The publishers of the present edition of this volume take 
pleasure in announcing that the author has generously pro- 
posed hereafter greatly to reduce his copyright, in order to 
enable them to issue the work in a more substantial manner 
than has heretofore been done, without increasing the price. 
While, therefore, its mechanical execution is much better than 
formerly, it will be so put to the trade, to teachers, and to the 
active friends of education, as to offer additional inducements 
for its free circulation among the community at large, for whose 
especial benefit it was prepared, and for whose elevation it is 
so happily adapted. We therefore hope the advocates of edu- 
cational progress will not relax their exertions in its behalf, but 
rather redouble them, especially as a perusal of the opinions 
of the press, and of practical educators, that have appeared in 
Educational, Secular, and Religious periodicals, in Quarterly 
Reviews, and elsewhere, in various States of the Union, and in 
both of the Canadas, (some of which may be found at the end 
of this volume,) must clearly establish the position that no work 
on the subject of Popular Education has ever been received 
with a more hearty good-will, or promises greater usefulness. 

New York, September 4th, 1852. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
In what does a correct Education consist ?...■. Page 13 

CHAPTER II. 
The Importance of Physical Education 28 

CHAPTER III. 
Physical Education — The Laws of Health 44 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Laws of Health — Philosophy, of Respiration 81 

CHAPTER V. 
The Nature of Intellectual and Moral Education , . Ill 

CHAPTER VI. 
The Education of the Five Senses 146 

CHAPTER VII. 
The Necessity of Moral and Religious Education 193 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Importance of Popular Education 224 

Education dissipates the Evils of Ignorance 226 

Education increases the Productiveness of Labor 253 

Education di minishes Pauperism and Crime 286 

Education increases human Happiness 311 

CHAPTER IX. 

Political Necessity of National Education 325 

The Practicability of National Education 353 

CHAPTER X. 

The Means of Universal Education _ 362 

Good School-houses should be provided 372 

Well-qualified Teachers should be employed 410 

Schools should continue through the Year 440 

Every Child should attend School 442 

The redeeming Power of Common Schools 454 

Index 461 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 



CHAPTER I. 

IN WHAT DOES A CORRECT EDUCATION CONSIST? 

I call that education which embraces the culture of the whole man, 
with all his faculties — subjecting his senses, his understanding, and his 
passions to reason, to conscience, and to the evangelical laws of the 
Christian revelation. — De.Fellenberg. 

From the beginning of human records to the present 
time, the inferior animals have changed as little as the 
herbage upon which they feed, or the trees beneath 
which they find shelter. In one generation, they attain 
all the perfection of which their nature is susceptible. 
That Being without whose notice not even a sparrow 
falls to the ground, has provided for the supply of their 
wants, and has adapted each to the element in which 
it moves. To birds he has given a clothing of feathers ; 
and to quadrupeds, of furs, adapted to their latitudes. 
Where art is requisite in providing food for future want, 
or in constructing a needful habitation, as in the case 
of the bee and the beaver, a peculiar aptitude has been 
bestowed, which, in all the inferior races of animals, 
has been found adequate to their necessities. The 
crocodile that issues from its'egg in the warm sand, 
and never sees its parent, becomes, it has been well 
said, as perfect and as knowing as any crocodile. 

Not so with man ! " He comes into the world," savs 
an eloquent writer, " the most helpless and dependent 
of living beings, long to continue so. If deserted by 
parents at an early age, so that he can learn only what 



14 A CORRECT EDUCATION I 

the experience of one life may teach him — as to a few 
individuals has happened, who yet have attained matu- 
rity in woods and deserts — he grows up in some re- 
spect inferior to the nobler brutes. Now, as regards 
many regions of the earth, history exhibits the early 
human inhabitants in states of ignorance and barbarism, 
not far removed from this lowest possible grade, which 
civilized men may shudder to contemplate. But these 
countries, occupied formerly by straggling hordes of 
miserable savages, who could scarcely defend them- 
selves against the wild beasts that shared the woods 
with them, and the inclemencies of the weather, and 
the consequences of want and fatigue ; and who to each 
other were often more dangerous than any wild beasts, 
unceasingly warring among themselves, and destroy- 
ing each other with every species of savage, and even 
cannibal cruelty — countries so occupied formerly, are 
now become the abodes of myriads of peaceful, civil- 
ized, and friendly men, where the desert and impenetra- 
ble forest are changed into cultivated fields, rich gar- 
dens, and magnificent cities. 

" It is the strong intellect of man, operating with the 
faculty of language as a means, which has gradually 
worked this wonderful change. By language, fathers 
communicated their gathered experience and reflec- 
tions to their children, and these to succeeding children, 
with new accumulation ; and when, after many gen- 
erations, the precious store had grown until memory 
could contain no more, the arts of writing, and then of 
printing, arose, making language visible and permanent, 
and enlarging illimitably the repositories of knowledge. 
Language thus, at the present moment of the world's 
existence, may be said to bind the whole human race 
of uncounted millions into one gigantic rational being, 
whose memory reaches to the beginnings of written 



IN WHAT IT CONSISTS. 15 

records, and retains imperishably the important events 
that have occurred ; whose judgment, analyzing the 
treasures of memory, has discovered many of the sub- 
lime and unchanging laws of nature, and has built on 
them all the arts of life, and through them, piercing far 
into futurity, sees clearly many of the events that are 
to come ; and whose eyes, and ears, and observing mind 
at this moment, in every corner of the earth, are watch- 
ing and recording new phenomena, for the purpose of 
still better comprehending the magnificence and beau- 
tiful order of creation, and of more worthily adoring 
its beneficent Author. 

" It might be very interesting to show here, in mi- 
nute detail, how the arts of civilization have progress- 
ed in accordance with the gradual increase of man's 
knowledge of the universe ; but it would lead too far 
from the main subject." The preceding sketch may 
remind us of the low condition of man in a state of 
ignorance and barbarism, and of the high condition to 
which he may be brought by cultivation. We possess 
a material and an immaterial part, mutually dependent 
on each other. On one hand, we may well say to cor- 
ruption, Thou art my father ; and to the worm, Thou 
art my mother and my sister. On the other hand, the 
Psalmist says of man, Thou hast made him a little lower 
than the angels. 

In the Scriptures we learn the origin and history of 
man — the subject of education. He was created in 
the image of his Maker. It was his delightful employ- 
ment, in innocency, to dress the beautiful garden in 
which he dwelt. Presently we learn he transgressed. 
His subsequent career becomes infelicitous. In the 
earlier history of the human race, the days of his pil- 
grimage were protracted several hundred years. In 
process of time, because of the prevalence of sin, a 



16 A CORRECT EDUCATION : 

universal deluge swept away the entire family of man, 
save one — a preacher of righteousness — and those of his 
household. Subsequently his days were shortened to 
three score years and ten. Much of this time is con- 
sumed in helpless infancy, in sleep, and in securing the 
necessary means of supporting animal life. This, it 
would. seem, is calamity enough; but not so. Man 
finds himself beset with temptations on every side, to 
deepen and perpetuate his degradation, by giving reign 
to unbridled passion. 

But a Light has shined upon his dark pathway, point- 
ing him to a brighter country, and beckoning him 
thither. Under these adverse circumstances, it be- 
comes the duty of the Educator to unfold the opening 
energies of his youthful charge ; to mold their plastic 
character, and to assist their efforts in the recovery of 
that which was lost, and in the attainment of immor- 
tality and eternal life. 

These are strong views, I am aware ; but nothing 
less would be adequate to the nature and wants of 
man. In these views I am fully sustained by nearly 
every writer of any distinction in Europe and Ameri- 
ca. In a volume of prize essays on the expediency and 
means of elevating the profession of the educator in 
society, published in London, under the direction of 
the central society of education, one of the writers, 
introducing a quotation from an American author, 
says, I can not resist the pleasure of quoting a few of 
Alcott's brief sentences, by way of conclusion to the 
present division of the argument. The voice that has 
been sent athwart the Atlantic may find an echo in 
some British bosoms. 

These are its words : " Education includes all those 
influences and disciplines by which the faculties of man 
are unfolded and perfected. It is that agency that 



IN WHAT IT CONSISTS. 17 

takes the helpless and pleading infant from the hands 
of its Creator, and, apprehending its entire nature, 
tempts it forth, now by austere, and now by kindly 
influences and disciplines, and thus molds it at last 
into the image of a perfect man ; armed at all points 
to use the body, nature, and life for its growth and re- 
newal, and to hold dominion over the fluctuating things 
of the outward. It seeks to realize in the soul the 
image of the Creator. Its end is a perfect man. Its 
aim, through every stage of influence, is self-renewal. 
The body, nature, and life are its instruments and ma- 
terials. Jesus is its worthiest ideal — Christianity its 
purest organ. The Gospels are its fullest text-book — 
genius is its inspiration — holiness its law — temperance 
its discipline — immortality its reward." 

Says Dr. Howe, in a lecture before the American 
Institute of Instruction, "Education should have for its 
aim the development and greatest possible perfection of 
the whole nature of man : his moral, intellectual, and 
physical nature. My beau ideal of human nature would 
be a being whose intellectual faculties were active and 
enlightened ; whose moral sentiments were dignified 
and firm ; whose physical formation was healthy and 
beautiful : whoever falls, short of this, in one particular 
— be it in but the least, beauty and vigor of body — falls 
short of the standard of perfection. To this standard, 
I believe, man is approaching ; and I believe the time 
will soon be when specimens of it will not be rare." 

The following thoughts are drawn from a treatise 
on the " Mental Illumination and Moral Improvement 
of Mankind," by that very judicious and celebrated 
writer, Dr. Dick, of Scotland. The education of hu- 
man beings, considered in its most extensive sense, 
comprehends every thing which is requisite to the cul- 
tivation and improvement of the faculties bestowed 



18 A correct education: 

upon them by the Creator. It ought to embrace every 
thing that has a tendency to strengthen and invigorate 
the animal system ; to enlighten and expand the under- 
standing ; to regulate the feelings and dispositions of 
the heart ; and, in general, to direct the moral powers 
in such a manner as to render those who are the sub- 
jects of instruction happy in themselves, useful mem- 
bers of society, and qualified for entering upon the 
scenes and employments of a future and more glorious 
existence. 

It is a very common but absurd notion, and one that 
has been too long acted upon, that the education of 
youth terminates, or should terminate, about the age 
of thirteen or fourteen years. Hence, in an article on 
this subject in one of our encyclopedias, education is 
denned to be " that series of means by which the human 
understanding is gradually enlightened, between infan- 
cy and the period when we consider ourselves as qual- 
ified to take a part in active life, and, ceasing to direct 
our views to the acquisition of new knowledge or the 
formation of new habits, are content to act upon the 
principles we have already acquired." 

This definition, though accordant with general opin- 
ion and practice, is certainly a very limited and defect- 
ive view of the subject. In the ordinary mode of our 
scholastic instruction, education, so far from being 
finished at the age above stated, can scarcely be said 
to have commenced. The key of knowledge has indeed 
been put into the hands of the young ; but they have 
never been taught to unlock the gates to the temple of 
science, to enter within its portals, to contemplate its 
treasures, and to feast their minds on the entertain- 
ments there provided. Several moral maxims have 
been impressed on their memories ; but they have 
seldom been taught to appreciate them in all their 



IN WHAT IT CONSISTS. 10 

bearings, or to reduce them to practice in the various 
and minute ramifications of their conduct. Besides, 
although every rational means were employed for train- 
ing the youthful mind till the age above named, no valid 
reason can be assigned why regular instruction should 
cease at this early period. 

Man is a progressive being ; his faculties are capable 
of an indefinite expansion; the objects to which these 
faculties may be directed are boundless and infinitely 
diversified ; he is moving onward to an eternal world, 
and, in the present state, can never expect to grasp 
the universal system of created objects, or to rise to 
the highest point of moral excellence. His tuition, 
therefore, can not be supposed to terminate at any 
period of his terrestrial existence ; and the course of 
his life ought to be considered as nothing more than 
the course of his education. When he closes his eyes 
in death, and bids a last adieu to every thing here be- 
low T , he passes into a more permanent and expansive 
state of existence, where his education will likewise be 
progressive, and where intelligences of a higher order 
may be his instructors ; and the education he received 
in this transitory scene, if it was properly conducted, 
will found the ground-work of all his future progres- 
sions in knowledge and virtue throughout the succeed- 
ing periods of eternity. 

There are two very glaring defects which appear 
in most of our treatises on education. In the first place, 
the moral tuition of youthful minds, and the grand prin- 
ciples of religion which ought to direct their views and 
conduct, are either entirely overlooked, or treated of 
in so vague and general a manner, as to induce a belief 
that they are considered matters of very inferior mo- 
ment; and, in the business of teaching, and the super- 
intendence of the young, the moral precepts ofChristi- 



20 A CORRECT EDUCATION I 

anity are seldom made to bear with particularity upon 
every malignant affection that manifests itself, and 
every minor delinquency that appears in their conduct, 
or to direct the benevolent affections how to operate 
in every given circumstance, and in all their inter- 
courses and associations. In the next place, the idea 
that man is a being destined to an immortal existence, 
is almost, if not altogether overlooked. Volumes have 
been written on the best modes of training men for the 
profession of a soldier, of a naval officer, of a merchant, 
of a physician, of a lawyer, of a clergyman, and of a 
statesman ; but I know of no treatise on this subject 
which, in connection with other subordinate aims, has 
for its grand object to develop that train of instruction 
which is most appropriate for man considered as a can- 
didate for immortality. This is the more unaccounta- 
ble, since, in the works alluded to, the eternal destiny 
of human beings is not called in question, and is some- 
times referred to as a general position which can not 
be denied ; yet the means of instruction requisite to 
guide them in safety to their final destination, and to 
prepare them for the employments of their everlasting 
abode, are either overlooked, or referred to in general 
terms, as if they were unworthy of particular consid- 
eration. To admit the doctrine of the immortality of 
the human soul, and yet to leave out the consideration 
of it, in a system of mental instruction, is both impious 
and preposterous, and inconsistent with the principle 
on which we generally act in other cases, which re- 
quires that affairs of the greatest moment should occupy 
our chief attention. If man is only a transitory inhab- 
itant of this lower world ; if he is journeying to another 
and more important scene of action and enjoyment ; if 
his abode in this higher scene is to be permanent and 
eternal ; and if the course of instruction through which 



IN WHAT IT CONSISTS. 21 

he now passes has an important bearing on his happi- 
ness in that state, and his preparation for its enjoy- 
ments — if all this be true, then surely every system of 
education must be glaringly defective which either 
overlooks or throws into the shade the immortal des- 
tination of human beings. 

If these sentiments be admitted as just, the education 
of the young becomes a subject of the highest import- 
ance. There can not be an object more interesting to 
Science, to Religion, and to general Christian society, 
than the forming of those arrangements, and the estab- 
lishing of those institutions, which are calculated tc 
train the minds of all to knowledge and moral rectitude, 
and to guide their steps in the path which leads to a 
blessed immortality. Jn this process there is no period 
in human life that aught to be overlooked. We must 
commence the work of instruction when the first dawn- 
ing of reason begins to appear, and continue the proc- 
ess through all the succeeding periods of mortal ex- 
istence, till the spirit takes its flight to the world un- 
known. 

While we would bring clearly into view the nature 
of that education which is needful for man, considered 
as a candidate for immortality, we would by no means 
overlook those subordinate aims which have reference 
to his present condition, and the relations he sustains 
in this life. The two are so intimately connected, and 
sustain such a reciprocal relation to each other, that 
each is best secured by that system of training and in 
the use of those appliances by which the other is most 
successfully promoted. In training the rising genera- 
tion for the proper discharge of their duty to them- 
selves and to one another — as children, and subsequent- 
ly as parents ; as members of society and citizens of 
free and independent states — we at the same time best 



22 A CORRECT EDUCATION : 

promote their interests as candidates for immortality. 
It is equally true that any system of education which 
omits to provide for man's highest and enduring wants 
as an immortal being, in a proportionate degree falls 
short of providing for his dearest interests and best 
good in this life. 

The system of education which we should promote 
comprehends whatever may have any good influence 
in developing the mind, by giving direction to thought, 
or bias to motives of action. To lead infancy in the 
path of duty, to give direction to an immortal spirit, and 
to teach it to aspire by well-doing to the rewards of 
virtue, is the first step of instruction. To youth, educa- 
tion imparts that knowledge whose ways are useful- 
ness and honor, and by due restraint and subordination, 
makes individual to intwine with public good in a jifst 
observance of laws, comprehending the path of duty. 
To manhood, it " leads him to reflect on the ties that 
unite him with friends, with kindred, and with the great 
family of mankind, and makes his bosom glow with 
social tenderness ; it confirms the emotions of sympa- 
thy into habitual benevolence, imparts to him the elating 
delight of rejoicing with those who rejoice, and, if his 
means are not always adequate to the suggestions of 
his charity, soothes him at last with the melancholy 
pleasure of weeping with those who weep." To age, 
it gives consolation, by remembrance of the past, and 
anticipation of the future. Wisdom is drawn from ex- 
perience, to give constancy to virtue ; and amid all the 
vicissitudes of life, it enables him to repose unshaken 
confidence in that goodness which, by the arrangement 
of the universe, constantly incites him to perpetual 
progress in excellence and felicity. Education is the 
growth and improvement of the mind. Its great object 
is immediate and prospective happiness. That, then, is 



1 
IN WHAT IT CONSISTS. 23 

the best education which secures to the individual and 
to the world the greatest amount of permanent happi- 
ness, and that the best system which most effectually 
accomplishes this grand design. How far this is ac- 
complished by the present systems of education is not 
easily determined, but that it fails in many important 
considerations can not admit of a doubt. 

It is feared that, by a great majority, a wrong esti- 
mate is made of education. Is it not generally consid- 
ered as a means which must be employed to accom- 
plish some other purpose, and consequently made sub- 
servient and secondary to the employments of life ? Is 
it not considered as being contained in books, and a 
certain routine of studies, which, when gone through 
with, is believed to be accomplished, and consequently 
laid by, to be used as interest may suggest or conven- 
ience demand ? Education comprehends all the im- 
provements of the mind from the cradle to the grave. 
Every man is what education has made him, whether 
he has drunk deep at the Pierian spring, or sipped at 
the humblest fountain. The philosopher, whose com- 
prehensive mind can scan the universe, and read and 
interpret the phenomena of nature ; whose heaven-as- 
piring spirit can soar beyond the boundaries of time, 
indulge in the anticipation of immortality, and discern 
in the past, the present, and the future the all-pervading 
spirit of benevolence, is equally the child of education 
with him whose soul proud science never taught to feel 
its wants, and know how little may be known. 

As we have already said, man possesses a material 
and an immaterial part, mutually dependent on each 
other. These are so intimately connected, and sustain 
such a reciprocal relation to each other, that neither 
can be neglected without detriment to both. The 
body continually modifies the state of the mind, and 



24 A CORRECT EDUCATION I 

the mind ever varies the condition of the body. Men- 
tal and physical training should, then, go together. 
That system of instruction which relates exclusively 
to either, is a partial system, and its fate must be that 
of a house divided against itself. Education has refer- 
ence to the whole man. It seeks to make him a com- 
plete creature after his kind, giving to both mind and 
body all the power, all the beauty, and all the perfec- 
tion of which they are capable. 

Our systems of education have hitherto fallen far 
short of this high and only true standard. Education, 
in too many instances, has been confined, almost en- 
tirely, to either the physical, intellectual, or moral en- 
ergies of men. With the greater part, it has been 
limited to the physical powers. No effort has been 
made to develop any but their bodily strength, ani- 
mal passions, and instinctive feelings. Accordingly, 
the great mass of mankind are raised but little above 
inferior animals. They labor hard, and boast of their 
strength ; gratify their passions, and glory in their 
shame ; eat and drink, sleep and wake, supposing to- 
morrow will be like the present. They are scarcely 
aware of their rational, intellectual powers, much less 
of their ever-expanding and never-dying spirits; con- 
sequently they feel but imperfectly their responsibility, 
and are governed principally by the fear of human au- 
thority. They have been taught to fear or reverence 
nothing higher. Their education is confined to animal 
feeling — physical energies. They have no conception 
of any thing beyond. The whole intellectual world, 
and all hereafter, is narrowed down to the animal feel- 
ing of the present time. How erroneous ! How bad- 
ly educated ! And what are we to anticipate when 
only the physical energies of men generally are thus 
developed ? Why, surely, what we are beginning to 



IN WHAT IT CONSISTS. 25 

witness — namely, physical power, trampling on all au- 
thority. 

The education of others is confined principally to in- 
tellect. Not that their physical powers are not neces- 
sarily more or less developed, but that their attention 
is directed almost exclusively to intellectual attain- 
ments. From the earliest infancy their minds are tax- 
ed, though their bodies are neglected, and their souls 
forgotten. Nor is it unfrequent that their physical 
strength gives way under the constant pressure of 
intellectual studies. And thus they are subjected to 
all the evils of physical inability — the sufferings of 
living death, in consequence of an erroneous educa- 
tion. Besides, thev are destitute of all those kinder 
feelings and sympathetic emotions which alone result 
from the cultivation of the moral susceptibilities, and 
become insensible to the more delicate affections of the 
soul, and elevating hopes of the truly virtuous. They 
have nothing on which to rest for enjoyment but intel- 
lectual attainments. And even these are small com- 
pared with what they might have been under a dif- 
ferent course of education. Yet with what delight 
are the first developments of intellect discovered by 
the natural guardian of the infant mind ! and with 
what anxious solicitude are they watched through ad- 
vancing youth and manhood by those employed in their 
education. In either stage the development of intel- 
lect alone seems worthy of an effort. And yet, when 
carried to the utmost, what may we expect of one 
destitute of virtue, and without strength of body? 
Little to benefit himself or others. Like Columbus, 
Franklin, or La Place, he may employ his intellect in 
useful discoveries ; or, like Hume, Voltaire, and Paine, 
to curse the world. In either case he may lead astray, 
and should never be trusted implicitly. As the bark 

B 



26 A CORRECT EDUCATION I 

on the ocean without compass or chart, that rides out 
the storm or sinks to the bottom, he may guide us in 
safety, or ruin us forever ! 

The education of others, again, is confined mostly to 
their m,oral energies. Those of the body are almost 
forgotten, only as nature forces their development 
upon the reluctant soul within. And those of intellect 
are deemed unworthy of a thought, except as neces- 
sary in the rudest stages of society ; while the moral 
susceptibilities are cultivated to the utmost. They are 
brought into action in every situation. They are em- 
ployed in private, in the social circle, and around the 
public altar. Nor are those employing them ever 
satisfied. They become fanatics — religious enthusi- 
asts. They have zeal without knowledge, and seem 
resolved on bringing all to their standard. They en- 
list in the work all the sympathies* of the soul — its ten- 
derest sensibilities and most compassionate feelings. 
Without intellect to guide, and physical strength to 
sustain them, they sink under moral excitement, and 
become deranged: a result that might be anticipated 
from such an education ; and one that is often de- 
veloped, in some of its milder features, among the re- 
formers of the day. Nor may you reason with them. 
Reckless of consequences and regardless of authority, 
they are not to be convinced or persuaded. They are 
right, and know they are right, for the plain reason 
that they know nothing else, and will not be diverted 
from their course. What degradation ! Who would 
not shrink from such an education? the development 
of the moral energies merely? It never qualified men 
for the highest attainment — the utmost dignity of which 
they are susceptible. 

Diversified as are the developments of human char- 
acter, and dissimilar as they may appear to the care- 



IN WHAT IT CONSISTS. 27 

less observer, there are peculiar characteristics of men 
that render them similar to one another, and unlike 
every other being. In their natures, original suscep- 
tibilities, and ultimate destinies, they are alike. They 
are material, intellectual, and spiritual ; animal, rational, 
and immortal. On these uniform traits of character 
education should be based. It should develop and 
strengthen the animal functions ; classify and improve 
the rational faculties ; and purify and elevate the spirit- 
ual affections in harmonious proportion and perfect 
symmetry. 

The animal functions of the human system are to be 
developed and strengthened by education. Hitherto 
they have been assigned to the province of nature, and 
deemed foreign to the objects of education. But a 
more unphilosophical and dangerous theory has seldom 
been embraced, as the melancholy results abundantly 
testify. We shall therefore devote a chapter to phys- 
ical education, which seems to lie at the foundation of 
the great work of human improvement ; for, as we 
have seen, in the present state the mind can manifest 
itself only through the body ; after which we shall pro- 
ceed to the consideration of the other grand divisions 
of the great work of education. 



28 THE IMPORTANCE OF 



CHAPTER II. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

The influence of the physical frame upon the intellect, morals, and 
happiness of a human being, is now universally admitted. The extent 
of this influence will be thought greater hi proportion to the accuracy 
with which the subject is examined. Bodily pain forms a large pro- 
portion of the amount of human misery. It is, therefore, of the highest 
importance that a child should grow up sound and healthy in body, 
with the utmost degree of muscular strength that education can com- 
municate. — Lalor. 

The importance of the department of the great work 
of education which we now approach has not hitherto 
been duly appreciated by parents and teachers gen- 
erally. I shall therefore devote more space to this 
subject than is usual in works on education, but not 
more, I trust, than its relative importance demands. 
Physical, intellectual, and moral education are so in- 
timately connected, that, in order duly to appreciate the 
importance of either, we must not view it separate and 
alone merely, but in connection with both of the others. 
And especially is this true of physical education. How- 
ever much value, then, we may attach to it on its own 
account, considering man as a corporeal being, we shall 
have occasion greatly to magnify its importance when 
we come to direct our attention to his intellectual 
culture, and still more when we view it in connection 
with his moral training. Then, and not till then, shall 
we be enabled, in some degree, properly to appreciate 
the importance of physical education. 

It has been objected, says Dr. Combe,* that to teach 
any one how to take care of his own health, is sure to 

* Principles of Physiology applied to the Preservation of Health. 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 29 

do harm, by making him constantly think of this and 
the other precaution, to the utter sacrifice of every 
noble and generous feeling, and to the certain produc- 
tion of peevishness and discontent. The result, how- 
ever, he adds, is exactly the reverse ; and it would be 
a singular anomaly in the constitution of the moral 
world were it otherwise. He who is instructed in, 
and is familiar with grammar and orthography, writes 
and spells so easily and accurately as scarcely to be 
conscious of attending to the rules by which he is 
guided ; while he, on the contrary, who is not instruct- 
ed in either, and knows not how to arrange his sen- 
tences, toils at the task, and sighs at every line. The 
same principle holds in regard to health. He who is 
acquainted with the general constitution of the human 
body, and with the laws which regulate its action, sees 
at once his true position when exposed to the causes 
of disease, decides what ought to be done, and there- 
after feels himself at liberty to devote his undivided at- 
tention to the calls of higher duties. But it is far oth- 
erwise with the person who is destitute of this informa- 
tion. Uncertain of the nature and extent of the danger, 
he knows not to which hand to turn, and either lives 
in the fear of mortal disease, or, in his ignorance, re- 
sorts to irrational and hurtful precautions, to the certain 
neglect of those which he ought to use. It is igno- 
rance, therefore, and not knowledge, which renders an 
individual full of fancies and apprehensions, and robs 
him of his usefulness. It would be a stigma on the 
Creator's wisdom if true knowledge weakened the un- 
derstanding, and led to injurious results. Those who 
have had the most extensive opportunities of forming an 
opinion on this subject from extensive experience, bear 
unequivocal testimony to the advantages which knowl- 
edge confers in saving health and life, time and anxiety. 



30 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

If, indeed, ignorance were itself a preventive of the 
danger, or could provide a remedy when it approach- 
ed, then it might well be said that " ignorance is bliss ;" 
but as it gives only the kind of security which shutting 
the eyes affords against the dangers of a precipice, 
and consequently leaves its victim doubly exposed, it 
is high time to renounce its protection, and to seek 
those of a more powerful and beneficent ally. Every 
medical man can testify that, natural character and 
other circumstances being alike, those whose knowl- 
edge is the most limited are the fullest of whims and 
fancies ; the most credulous respecting the efficacy of 
every senseless and preposterous remedy ; the most im- 
patient of restraint, and the most discontented at suffer- 
ing. 

If any of my readers be still doubtful of the propriety 
or safety of communicating physiological knowledge 
to the public at large, continues the author from whom 
we last quoted, and think that ignorance is in all cir- 
cumstances to be preferred, I would beg leave to ask 
him whether it was knowledge or ignorance which in- 
duced the poorer classes in every country of Asia and 
Europe to attempt to protect themselves from cholera 
by committing ravages on the medical attendants of 
the sick, under the plea of their having poisoned the 
public fountains ? And whether it was ignorance or 
knowledge which prompted the more rational part of 
the community to seek safety in increased attention to 
proper food, warmth, cleanliness, and clothing? In 
both cases, the desire of safety and sense of danger 
were the same, but the modes resorted to by each 
were as different in kind as in result, the efficacy of 
the one having formed a glaring contrast to the failure 
of the other. 

Dr. Southwood Smith, the able author of a volume 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 31 

entitled " The Philosophy of Health," says, The obvi- 
ous and peculiar advantages of this kind of knowledge 
are, that it would enable its possessor to take a more 
rational care of his health ; to perceive why certain 
circumstances are beneficial or injurious ; to under- 
stand, in some degree, the nature of disease, and the 
operation as well of the agents w T hich produce it as of 
those which counteract it ; to observe the first begin- 
nings of deranged function in his own person ; to give 
to his physician a more intelligible account of his train 
of morbid sensations, as they arise ; and, above all, to 
co-operate with him in removing the morbid state on 
which they depend, instead of defeating, as is now, 
through ignorance, constantly the case, the best concert- 
ed plans for the renovation of health. It would like- 
wise lay the foundation for the attainment of a. more 
just, accurate, and practical knowledge of our intellect- 
ual and moral nature. There is a physiology of the 
mind as well as of the body, and both are so intimately 
united that neither can be well understood without the 
study of the other. The physiology of man compre- 
hends both. Were even what is already known of this 
science and what might be easily communicated made 
a part of general education, how many evils would be 
avoided ! how much light would be let in upon the un- 
derstanding! and how many aids would be afforded to 
the acquisition of a sound body and a vigorous mind ! 
prerequisites more important than are commonly sup- 
posed to the attainment of wisdom and the practice of 
virtue. 

Human physiology, says Dr. Combe, in his admira- 
ble treatise on that subject, from which I have already 
quoted, is as important in its practical consequences 
as it is attractive to rational curiosity. In its widest 
sense, it comprehends an exposition of the functions of 



32 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

the various organs of which the human frame is com- 
posed ; of the mechanism by which they are carried on ; 
of their relations to each other, or the means of improv- 
ing their development and action ; of the purposes to 
which they ought severally to be directed, and of the 
manner in which exercise ought to be conducted, so as 
to secure for the organ the best health, and for the 
function the highest efficacy. A true system of phys- 
iology comes thus to be the proper basis, not only of a 
sound physical, but of a sound moral and intellectual 
education, and of a rational hygiene ; or, in other words, 
it is the basis of every thing having for its object the 
physical and mental health and improvement of man ; 
for, so long as life lasts, the mental and moral powers 
with which he is endowed manifest themselves through 
the medium of organization, and no plan which he can 
devise for their cultivation, that is not in harmony with 
the laws which regulate that organization, can possibly 
be successful. 

Let it not be said that knowledge of this description 
is superfluous to the unprofessional reader ; for society 
groans under the load of suffering inflicted by causes 
susceptible of removal, but left in operation in conse- 
quence of our unacquaintance with our own structure, 
and of the relation of different parts of the system to 
each other and to external objects. Every medical 
man must have felt and lamented the ignorance so gen- 
erally prevalent in regard to the simplest functions of 
the animal system, and the consequent absence of the 
judicious co-operation of friends in the care and cure 
of the sick. From ignorance of the commonest facts 
in physiology, or from want of ability to appreciate 
their importance, men of much good sense in every 
other respect not only subject themselves unwittingly 
to the active causes of disease, but give their sanction 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 33 

to laws and practices destructive equally to life and to 
morality, and which, if they saw them in their true light, 
they would shrink from countenancing in the slightest 
degree. 

Were the intelligent classes of society better ac- 
quainted with the functions of the human body and the 
laws by which they are regulated, continues this judi- 
cious writer, the sources of much suffering would be 
dried up, and the happiness of the community at large 
would be essentially promoted. Medical men would 
no longer be consulted so exclusively for the cure of 
disease, but would be called upon to advise regarding 
the best means of strengthening the constitution, from 
an early period, against any accidental or hereditary 
susceptibility which might be ascertained to exist. 
More attention would be paid to the preservation of 
health than is at present practicable, and the medical 
man would then be able to advise with increased effect, 
because he would be proportionally well understood, 
and his counsel, in so far, at least, as it was based on ac- 
curate observation and a light application of principles, 
would be perceived to be, not a mere human opinion* 
but, in reality, an exposition of the will and intentions 
of a beneficent Creator, and would therefore be felt as 
carrying with it an authority to which, as the mere 
dictum of a fallible fellow-creature, it could never be 
considered as entitled. 

It is true that, as yet, medicine has been turned to 
little account in the way of directly promoting the phys- 
ical and mental welfare of man. But the day is, per- 
haps, not far distant, when, in consequence of the im- 
provements both in professional and general education 
now in progress, a degree of interest will be attached 
to this application of its doctrines far surpassing what 
those who have not reflected on the subject will be 

B2 



34 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

able to imagine as justly belonging to it, but by no 
means exceeding that which it truly deserves. 

Every person should be acquainted with the or- 
ganization, structure, and functions of his own body — 
the house in which he lives : he should know the con- 
ditions of health, and the causes of the numerous disea- 
ses that flesh is heir to, in order to avoid them, prolong 
his life, and multiply his means of usefulness. If these 
things are not otherwise learned, they should be taught 
— the elements of them at least — in our primary schools. 
This instruction would come, perhaps, most appro- 
priately from the members of the medical profession. 
But either society generally, or physicians themselves, 
or both, have mistaken the true sphere of a physician's 
usefulness, and what ought to constitute the grand ob- 
ject of his profession, namely, the prevention of disease, 
and the general improvement of the health, and not the 
curing of diseases merely. The physician, like the 
clergyman in his parish, should receive a salary; and 
he should be occupied, chiefly, in teaching the laws of 
health to his employers ; in imparting to them instruc- 
tion in relation to the means of avoiding the diseases 
to which they are more particularly exposed, and in 
laying before them such information as shall be need- 
ful, in order to the highest improvement of their phys- 
ical organization, and the transmission to posterity of 
unimpaired constitutions. This he may do by public 
lectures, at suitable seasons of the year ; and by visit- 
ing from house to house, and imparting such informa- 
tion as may be particularly needed. The physician 
should not allow any of his employers blindly to disre- 
gard the laws of health, or, knowing them, to violate 
them unreproved. He should be accounted the best 
physician, other things being equal, whose employers 
have the least sickness, and uniformly enjoy the best 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 35 

health. When the relation existing between the mem- 
bers of the medical profession and the well-being of 
society generally comes to be better understood, and 
physicians are employed in accordance with the prin- 
ciples just stated, their greatest usefulness to the com- 
munities they serve will be found to consist in teach- 
ing well men and women how to retain and improve 
their health, and rear a healthy offspring, and not in 
partially curing diseased persons who are constantly 
violating the laws of health. These views will doubt- 
less be new to many of my readers, and seem to them 
very strange ! But let me inquire of such what they 
would think of the clergyman who should neglect to 
instruct his parishioners in the ennobling doctrines of 
morality and religion, and should suffer them to go on 
in sin unrebuked, until they become a burden to them- 
selves ? who should wait until his counsels were solic- 
ited before he sounds the note of alarm, and points the 
guilty sinner to " the Lamb of God which taketh away 
the sin of the world ?" and who should confine his la- 
bors almost entirely to condemned criminals? Such 
conduct on the part of clergymen would doubtless be 
regarded by these very persons as passing strange ! 
The course commonly pursued in the employment of 
physicians is equally unphilosophical, and floods society 
with a legion of evils — physical and intellectual, social 
and moral — three fourths of which might be avoided, 
by the proper exercise of the medical profession, in one 
generation ; and ultimately, nineteen twentieths, if not 
ninety-nine one hundredths of them. As I have al- 
ready said, this instruction would come, perhaps, most 
appropriately from the members of the medical pro- 
fession. But if these things are not taught elsewhere, 
I repeat it, they should be taught — the elements of 
them at least — in our primary schools. 



36 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

I can not better enforce the importance of physical 
education than by quoting from a lecture "on the edu- 
cation of the blind," by one of the most distinguished 
practical educators* in this country. " That the pro- 
portion of the blind to the whole population might be 
diminished by wise social regulations, and by the dis- 
semination of knowledge of the organic laws of man, 
there is not a doubt ; but whether the time has come, 
or ever will come, is another question. At any rate, 
to so enlightened a bodyf as I have the honor of ad- 
dressing, suggestions of methods by which the extent 
of blindness may be limited will neither be misapplied, 
nor liable to offend a mawkish sensibility. That the 
blindness of a large proportion of society is a social 
evil will not be denied, nor will the right which so- 
ciety has to diminish that proportion be questioned. 
But how? in a very simple way; by preventing the 
transmission of an hereditary blindness to another gen- 
eration ; by preventing the marriage of those who are 
congenitally blind, or who have lost their sight by 
reason of hereditary weakness of the visual organs, 
which disqualifies them to resist the slightest inflam- 
mation or injury in childhood. 

" I am aware that many people would condemn this 
proposition as cruel, because it might add to the sad- 
ness of the sufferers ; and that the whole seven thou- 
sand five hundred blind in this country would rise up 
and scout it, as barbarous and unnatural ; for I have 
experienced the effects of contradiction to the wills of 
individual blind persons in this respect. But my rule 
is, the good of the community before that of the in- 
dividual ; the good of the race before that of the com- 

* Dr. Samuel G. Howe, director of the New England Institution for 
the Education of the Blind, 1836. 

t The American Institute of Instruction. 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 37 

munity. To give you an instance : the city of Boston, 
with a population of eighty thousand, is represented in 
the Institution for the Blind by two blind children only ; 
and I know of but four in the whole population ; while 
Andover, with but five thousand, is fully and ably rep- 
resented by seven ;* and it has three more growing 
up. 

"Now how is this? Why, the blind of Andover 
are mostly from a common stock ; three of them are 
born of one mother, who has had four blind children. 
Another of the pupils is cousin, in the first degree, to 
these three ; and two other pupils are cousins in a re- 
mote degree. Then, from other places, there are two 
brothers, who have a third at home. There is one 
blind girl, who has two blind sisters at home. Then 
there are two pairs of sisters. 

" In the immediate vicinity of Boston, I know of a 
family in which blindness is hereditary ; the last gen- 
eration there were five. Of these five one is married, 
and has four children, not one of whom can see well 
enough to read ; and if the others marry, they may 
increase the number to twelve or twenty. 

" Now apply this state of things to the whole coun- 
try, and have you any difficulty in conceiving how it 
happens that there are seven thousand five hundred 
blind in the United States ? And can you doubt 
whether or not this great proportion of blind to the 
whole community might not be considerably diminish- 
ed, if men and women understood the organic laws of 
their nature ? understood that, very often, blindness 
is the punishment following an infringement of the 
natural laws of God ; and if they could be made to act 
upon the holy Christian principles, that we should deny 

* This makes the ratio of representation in the institution from 
Andover fifty six times greater than from the city of Boston. 



38 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

/ 

ourselves any individual gratification, any selfish de- 
sire, that may result in evil to the whole community? 

" I would that every individual whom I have the 
honor to address would assist in the education of the 
blind, so far as to give them just and Christian views 
of this subject. I would that all should work for so- 
ciety ; not for society to-day alone, but for the society 
of future ages ; not in any one narrow, partial way, 
but upon a broad scale, and in every way in which 
they can be useful. If a person congenitally blind, or 
strongly predisposed to become so, or one who mar- 
ries a person so born or so disposed, has blind off- 
spring in consequence of it, I ask, is he not as responsi- 
ble, in a moral point of view, for the infirmity of his 
children as though he had put out their eyes with his 
own hands ? 

" You may suppose, perhaps, that the infirmity of 
blindness would incapacitate sufferers from winning 
the affections of seeing persons ; and that, with respect 
to two blind persons, the sense of incapacity to sup- 
port a family would prevent them from uniting them- 
selves. In the first place, I answer, that seeing peo- 
ple do no better than the blind. Even a blind man 
may perceive that many marriages are mere matters 
of course, resulting from juxtaposition of parties ; and 
rarely matters where the purer affections and higher 
moral sentiments are consulted. And, in the second 
place, that incapacity of supporting a family will not 
weigh a feather in the balance with desire, unless the 
intellectual and moral nature is enlightened and culti- 
vated. Do we not see, every day, cases of misery en- 
tailed upon whole families, because one of the parties 
had overlooked or disregarded moral infirmity, which 
ought \.o have been a greater objection than any phys- 
ical defect — than even blindness or deafness ? 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 39 

"But no process of reasoning is required, for there 
stand the facts. The blind not only seek for partners 
in life, but are sometimes sought by seeing persons ; 
and numerous instances have occurred within my 
knowledge. It is true, that despair of success in any 
other quarter, or an equally unworthy motive, may 
induce some to seek for partners among the blind, or the 
blind to unite with the blind ; but still, there is the evil. 

" My observation induces me to think that the blind, 
far more than seeing persons, are fond of social rela- 
tions, and desirous of family endearments. A mo- 
ment's thought would induce one to conclude that this 
would naturally be the case ; a moment's observation 
convinces one that it is so. Now I have found among 
them some of the most pious, intelligent, and disin- 
terested beings I ever knew ; but hardly more than 
one who was prepared to forego the enjoyments of 
domestic relations. And how can we expect them to 
be so, more than seeing people ? The fact is, but very 
few persons in the community give any attention to 
the laws of their organic nature, and the tendency to 
hereditary transmission of infirmities. Very few con- 
sider that they owe more to society than to their indi- 
vidual selves ; that if we are to love our neighbor as 
ourself, we must, of course, love all our neighbors, 
collectively, more than the single unit which each one 
calls I. 

" I would that considerations of this kind had more 
weight with the community generally. I would that 
the subject were more attended to, and that the viola- 
tion of the laws of our organic nature were less fre- 
quent in our country. There is one great and crying 
evil in our system of education ; it is, that but part of 
man's nature is educated, and that our colleges and 
schools doom young men for years to an uninterrupted 



40 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

and severe exercise of the intellectual faculties, to the 
comparative neglect of their moral, and still more of 
their physical nature. Nay, not only do they neglect 
their physical nature — they abuse it; they sin against 
themselves and against God ; and though they sin in 
ignorance, they do not escape the penalties of His vio- 
lated laws. Hence you see them pale, and wan, and 
feeble ; hence you find them acknowledging, when too 
late, the effects of severe application. But do they 
acknowledge it humbly and repentingly, as with a con- 
sciousness of sin ? No, they often do it with a secret 
exultation, with a lurking feeling that you will say or 
think. ' Poor fellow, his mind is too much for his body !' 
Nonsense ! his mind is too weak ; his knowledge too 
limited ; he is an imperfect man ; he knows not his 
own nature. But if he has no conscientiousness, no 
scruple about impairing his own health and sowing the 
seeds of disease, he has less about entailing them upon 
others. And a consumptive young man or woman — 
the son or daughter of consumptive parents — hesitates 
not to spread the evil in society, and entail puny faces, 
weakness, pain, and early death upon several individ- 
uals, and punish their children for their own sins. 

"Is this picture too high-colored ? Alas! no. And 
if I showed you satisfactorily that sin against the or- 
ganic laws caused so great a proportion of blindness, 
how much more readily will you grant that the same 
sin gives to so many of our population the narrow chest, 
the hectic flush, the hollow cough, which makes the 
victim doomed, by his parent, to consumption and early 
death ! Do you not see, every Sabbath, at church, 
the young man or woman, upon whose fair and delicate 
structure the peculiar impress of the early doomed is 
stamped ? and as a slight but hollow cough comes upon 
your ear, does it not recall the death-knell which rang 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 41 

in the same sad note before to the father or mother ? 
Who of you has not followed some young friend to his 
long resting-place, and found that the grass had not 
grown rank upon the grave of his brother ? that the 
row of white marbles, beneath which slept his parents 
and sisters, were yet glistering in freshness, and that 
the letters which told their names and their early death 
seemed clear as if cut but yesterday? 

" They tell us that physical education is attended to 
in this country ; and yet, where is the teacher, where 
is the clergyman even, who dares to step forth in these 
cases, and say to those who are doomed, you must not 
and shall not marry ? and where are the young men 
and women who would listen to them if they did ? It 
is not that they are wanting in conscientiousness ; they 
may be conscientious and disinterested ; but they do 
not know that they are doing wrong, because they are 
not acquainted with the organic laws of their nature. 
All that is done in schools or colleges toward physical 
education is the mere strengthening of the muscular sys- 
tem by muscular exercise ; but this is not half enough. 
These remarks may be deemed irrelevant to my subject, 
but they can not be lost to an audience whose highest 
interest is the education of man ; and if I am mistaken 
in supposing that little attention has been paid to the 
subject, its importance will guaranty its repetition." 

Before dismissing this subject, I will introduce two 
additional quotations from American authors, whose 
opinions are received by the medical profession in this 
country not only, but throughout Europe. In both in- 
stances, I copy from works published in Great Britain, 
into which the opinions of these American writers have 
been quoted. In regard to hereditary transmission, 
Dr. Caldwell observes: "Every constitutional quality, 
whether good or bad, may descend, by inheritance, 



42 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

from parent to child. And a long-continued habit of 
drunkenness becomes as essentially constitutional as a 
predisposition to gout or pulmonary consumption. This 
increases, in a manifold degree, the responsibility of 
parents in relation to temperance. By habits of in- 
temperance, they not only degrade and ruin themselves, 
but transmit the elements of like degradation and ruin 
to their posterity. This is no visionary conjecture, 
the fruit of a favorite and long-cherished theory. It is 
a settled belief resulting from observation — an infer- 
ence derived from innumerable facts. In hundreds and 
thousands of instances, parents, having had children 
born to them while their habits were temperate, have 
become afterward intemperate, and had other children 
subsequently born. In such cases, it is a matter of no- 
toriety that the younger children have become addict- 
ed to the practice of intoxication much more frequently 
than the older, in the proportion of five to one. Let 
me not be told that this is owing to the younger chil- 
dren being neglected, and having corrupt and seducing 
examples constantly before them. The same neglects 
and profligate examples have been extended to all, yet 
all have not been equally injured by them. The chil- 
dren of the earlier births have escaped, while those of 
the subsequent ones have suffered. The reason is plain. 
The latter children had a deeper animal taint than the 
former." — Transijlvania Journal. 

Physiologists in general coincide in the belief that a 
vigorous and healthy physical and mental constitution 
in the parents communicates existence in the most per- 
fect state to their offspring, while impaired constitu- 
tions, from whatever cause, are transmitted to posterity. 
In this sense, all who are competent to judge are agreed 
that the Giver of life is a jealous God, visiting the in- 
iquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 43 

and fourth generation of them that hate him or violate 
his laws. Strictly speaking, it is not disease which is 
transmitted, but organs of such imperfect structure 
that they are unable to perform their functions proper- 
ly, and so weak as to be easily put into a morbid state 
or abnormal condition by causes which unimpaired 
organs are able to resist. 

My last quotation on this point is from a lecture de- 
livered by Dr. Warren before the American Institute 
of Instruction, copied into the "Schoolmaster,*' a work 
published in London under the superintendence of the 
Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge : 

" Let me conclude by entreating your attention to a 
revision of the existing plans of education in what re- 
lates to the preservation of health. Too much of the 
time of the better educated part of young persons is, 
in my humble opinion, devoted to literary pursuits and 
sedentary occupations, and too little to the acquisition 
of the corporeal powers indispensable to make the for- 
mer practically useful. If the present system does not 
undergo some change, I much apprehend we shall see 
a degenerate and sinking race, such as came to exist 
among the higher classes in France before the Revolu- 
tion, and such as now deforms a large part of the noblest 
families in Spain;* but if the spirit of improvement, so 
happily awakened, continues — as I trust it will — to an- 
imate those concerned in the formation of the young 
members of society, we shall soon be able, I doubt not, 
to exhibit an active, beautiful, and wise generation, of 
which the age may be proud." 

* I am informed by a lady who passed a long time at the Spanish 
court, in a distinguished situation, that the grandees have deteriorated 
by their habits of living, and the restriction of intermarriages to their 
own rank, to a race of dwarfs ; and, though fine persons are sometimes 
seen among them, they, when assembled at court, appear to be a group 
of manikins. 



14 PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 



CHAPTER III. 

PHYSICAL EDUCATION. THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 

If man is ever to be elevated to the highest and happiest condition 
which his nature will permit, it must be, in no small degree, by the im- 
provement — I might say, the redemption — of his physical powers. But 
knowledge on any subject must precede improvement. — Alcott. 

Physical and moral health are as nearly related as the body and the 
soul. — Hufjsland's Art of Prolonging Life. 

If the reader is persuaded that the views presented 
in the last chapter on the importance of physical edu- 
cation are truthful — and they are concurred in by phys- 
iologists generally — he will naturally desire to become 
acquainted with the laws of health, that, by yielding 
obedience to them, he may improve his physical con- 
dition, and most successfully promote his intellectual 
and moral well-being. I might, then, here refer to some 
of the many excellent treatises on this subject ; but I 
shall probably better accomplish the object for which 
this work has been undertaken by presenting, within 
as narrow limits as practicable, a summary of these 
laws. 

In every department of nature, waste is invariably 
the result of action. In mechanics, we seek to reduce 
the waste consequent upon action to the lowest possible 
degree ; but to prevent it entirely is beyond the power 
of man. Every breath of wind that passes over the 
surface of the earth, modifies the bodies with which it 
comes in contact. The great toe of the bronze statue 
of Saint Peter at Rome has been reduced, it is said, tc 
less than half its original size by the successive kisses 
of the faithful. 



THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 45 

In dead or inanimate matter, the destructive influ- 
ence of action is constantly forced upon our attention 
by every thing passing around us, and so much human 
ingenuity is exercised to counteract its effects that no 
reflecting person will dispute the universality of its 
operation. But when we observe shrubs and trees 
waving in the wind, and animals undergoing violent 
exertion, year after year, and continuing to increase 
in size, we may be inclined, on a superficial view, to 
regard living bodies as constituting an exception to 
this rule. On more careful examination, however, it 
will appear that waste goes on in living bodies not 
only without intermission, but with a rapidity immeas- 
urably beyond that which occurs in inanimate objects. 

In the vegetable world, for instance, every leaf of a 
tree is incessantly pouring out some of its fluids, and 
every flower forming its own fruit and seed, speedily 
to be separated from, and lost to its parent stem ; thus 
causing in a few months an extent of w r aste many 
hundred times greater than what occurs in the same 
lapse of time after the tree is cut down, and all its liv- 
ing operations are at a close. 

The same thing holds true in the animal kingdom : 
so long as life continues, a copious exhalation from the 
skin, the lungs, the bowels, and the kidneys goes on 
without a moment's intermission, and not a movement 
can be performed which does not in some degree in- 
crease the circulation, and add to the general waste. 
In this way, during violent exertion, several ounces of 
the fluids of the body are sometimes thrown out by 
perspiration in a very few minutes ; whereas, after life 
is extinguished, all the excretions cease, and waste is 
limited to that which results from ordinary chemical 
decomposition.* 

* For the views presented in the preceding paragraph (as also in sev- 



46 PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

So far, then, the law that waste is attendant on action 
applies to both dead and living bodies ; but beyond 
this point a remarkable difference between them pre- 
sents itself. In the physical or inanimate world, what 
is once lost or worn away 25 lost forever ; but living 
bodies, whether vegetable or animal, possess the dis- 
tinguishing characteristic of being able to repair their 
own waste and add to their own substance. The pos- 
session of such a power is essential to their existence. 
But there is a wide difference between them in other 
respects. In surveying the respective modes of exist- 
ence of vegetables and of animals, we perceive the 
fixity of position of the one, and the free locomotive 
power of the other. The vegetable grows, flourishes, 
and dies, fixed to the same spot of earth from which it 
sprang. However much external circumstances change 
around it, it must remain and submit to their influence. 
At all hours and at all seasons, it is at home, and in di- 
rect communication with the soil from which its nour- 
ishment is extracted. But it is otherwise with animals : 
these not only enjoy the privilege of locomotion, but 
are compelled to use it, and often to go a distance in 
search of food and shelter. The necessity for a con- 
stant, change of place being imposed on them, a differ- 
ent arrangement became indispensable for their nutri- 
tion. The method which the Creator has provided is 
not less admirable than simple. To enable animals to 
move about, and at the same time to maintain a con- 
nection with their food, they are provided with a 
stomach. In this receptacle they can store up a supply 
of materials from which sustenance may be gradually 

eral that follow) I would acknowledge my indebtedness to Dr. Andrew 
Combe's treatise on the " Physiology of Digestion." From the " Prin- 
ciples of Physiology," by the same author, I have already quoted. 
These admirable works will prove an invaluable treasure to persons 
desirous of becoming acquainted with the laws of health. 



THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 47 

elaborated during a period of time proportioned to 
their necessities and mode of life. Animals thus carry 
with them nourishment adequate to their wants ; and 
the small nutritive vessels imbibe their food from the 
internal surface of the stomach and bowels, where it is 
stored up, just as the roots or nutritive vessels of ve- 
getables do from the soil in which they grow. The 
possession of a stomach or receptacle for food is ac- 
cordingly a distinguishing characteristic of the animal 
system. 

The sole objects of nutrition being to repair waste 
and to admit of growth, the Creator has so arranged 
that within certain limits it is alw T ays most vigorous 
when growth or waste proceeds with the greatest ra- 
pidity. Even in vegetables this provision is distinctly 
observable. It is also strikingly apparent in animals. 
Whenever growth is proceeding rapidly, or the animal 
is undergoing much exertion and expenditure of mate- 
rialman increased quantity of food is invariably requir- 
ed. On the other hand, where no new substance is 
forming, and where, from bodily inactivity, little loss is 
sustained, a comparatively small supply will suffice. In 
endowing animals with the sense of appetite, including 
the sensation of hunger and thirst, the Creator has 
effectually provided against any inconvenience which 
might otherwise exist, and given to them a guide in re- 
lation to both the quality and quantity of food needful 
for them, and the times of partaking of it, with that 
beneficence which distinguishes all his works. He has 
not only provided an effectual safeguard in the sensa- 
tions of hunger and thirst, but he has attached to their 
regulated indulgence a degree of pleasure which never 
fails to insure attention to their demands, and which, 
in highly-civilized communities, is apt to lead to excess- 
ive gratification. Their end is manifestly to proclaim 



48 PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

that nourishment is required for the support of the sys- 
tem. When the body is very actively exercised, and 
a good deal of waste is effected by perspiration and 
exhalation from the lungs, the appetite becomes keener, 
and more urgent for immediate gratification; and if it 
is indulged, we eat with a relish unknown on other oc- 
casions, and afterward experience a sensation of inter- 
nal comfort pervading the frame, as if every individual 
part of the body were imbued with a feeling of content- 
ment and satisfaction ; the very opposite of the restless 
discomfort and depression which come upon us, and 
extend over the whole system, when appetite is disap- 
pointed. There is, in short, an obvious and active sym- 
pathy between the condition and bearing of the stomach, 
and those of every part of the animal frame ; in virtue 
of which, hunger is felt very keenly when the general 
system stands in urgent need of repair, and very mod- 
erately when no waste has been suffered. 

We nave seen that waste is every where attendant 
upon action, and that the object of nutrition is to repair 
waste and admit of growth. We come now to con- 
sider the Process of Digestion. 

All articles used for food necessarily undergo several 
changes before they are fitted to constitute a part of 
the body. In the process of digestion, four different 
changes should be noticed. More might be specified. 

1. Mastication. — The first step in the preparation 
of food for imparting nourishment to the system con- 
sists in proper mastication, or chewing. Food should 
be thoroughly masticated before it is taken into the 
stomach. This is necessary in order to break it up and 
reduce it to a sufficient degree of fineness for the effi- 
cient action of the gastric juice. Besides, the action 
o> chewing and the presence of nutrient food constitute 
a healthful stimulus to the salivary glands, situated in 



the laws of health. 49 

the mouth. By this means, also, the food not only be- 
comes well masticated, but has blended with it a proper 
amount of saliva, upon both of which conditions the 
healthy action of the stomach depends. We have here 
another illustration of the beneficence of the Creator, 
who has kindly so arranged that the very act of mas- 
tication gratifies taste, the mouth being the seat of this 
sensation. But if we disregard these benevolent laws, 
and introduce unmasticated food into the stomach, the 
gastric juice can act only upon its surface, and changes 
of a purely chemical nature frequently commence in 
food thus swallowed before digestion can take place. 
Hence frequently arise — and especially in children and 
persons of delicate constitution — pains, nausea, and acid- 
ity, consequent on the continued presence of undigested 
aliment in the stomach. 

2. Chymification. — As soon as food has been thor- 
oughly masticated and impregnated with saliva, it is 
ready for transmission to the stomach. This interest- 
ing part of the process of digestion, called deglutition 
or swallowing, is most easily and pleasantly performed, 
when the alimentary morsel has been well masticated 
and properly softened, not by drink, which should never 
be taken at this time, but by saliva. When the food 
reaches the stomach, it is converted into a soft, pulpy 
mass, called chyme ; and the process by which this 
change is effected is called chymification. This is the 
second principal step in digestion, and is effected imme- 
diately by the action of the gastric juice. This pow- 
erful solvent is secreted by the gastric glands, which 
are excited to action by the presence of food in the 
stomach. In health, the gastric secretion always bears 
a direct relation to the quantity of aliment required by 
the system. If too much food is taken into the stomach, 
indigestion is sure to follow, for the sufficient reason 

C 



50 PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

that the gastric juice is unable to dissolve it. This is 
true even when food has been well masticated ; but 
it becomes strikingly apparent when a full meal has 
been hastily swallowed, both mastication and insaliva- 
tion having been imperfectly performed. 

The time usually occupied in the process ofchymifi- 
cation, when food has been properly masticated, varies 
from three to four hours. Digestion is sometimes ef- 
fected in less time, as in the case of rice, and pigs' feet 
soused ; but it more commonly requires a longer period, 
as in the case of salt pork and beef, and many other 
articles of food, both animal and vegetable. 

By the alternate contraction and relaxation of the 
muscular coat of the stomach, which is excited to ac- 
tion by the presence of food, a kind of churning motion 
is communicated to its contents that greatly promotes 
digestion ; for by this means every portion of food in 
turn is brought in contact with the gastric juice as it is 
discharged from the internal surface of the stomach. 
This motion continues until the contents of the stom- 
ach are converted into chyme, and conveyed into the 
first intestine, where they undergo another important 
change. 

3. Chylification. — As fast as chyme is formed, it is 
expelled by the contractile power of the stomach into 
the duodenum, or first intestine. It there meets with 
the bile from the liver, and with the pancreatic juice. 
By the action of these agents, the chyme is converted 
into two distinct portions: a milky white fluid, called 
chyle, and a thick yellow residue. This process is called 
chylification, or chyle-making. The chyle is then taken 
up by the absorbent vessels, which are extensively ram- 
ified over the inner membrane or lining of the bowels. 
From the white color of the contents of these vessels, 
they have been named lacteals or milk-bearers, from lac, 



THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 51 

which signifies milk. These lacteals ultimately con- 
verge into one trunk, called the thoracic duct, which 
terminates in the great vein under the clavicle or 
collar bone, hence called the subclavian vein, just be- 
fore that vein reaches the right side of the heart. Here 
the chyle is poured into the general current of the ve- 
nous blood, and, mingling with it, is exposed to the ac- 
tion of the air in the lungs during respiration. By this 
process, both the chyle and the venous blood are con- 
verted into red, arterial, or nutritive blood, which is 
afterward distributed by the heart through the arteries, 
to supply nourishment and support to every part of the 
body. The change which takes place in the lungs is 
called sanguification, or blood-making. The chyle is 
not prepared to impart nourishment to the system until 
this change takes place. Respiration, then, is, in re- 
ality, the completion of digestion. This interesting and 
vital part of the process of digestion will be considered 
more fully in the following chapter. 

Before passing from this part of the subject, a few 
remarks of a more general nature seem called for. 
The nerves of the stomach have a direct relation to un- 
digestedbut digestible substances. When any body that 
can not be digested is introduced into the stomach, 
distinct uneasiness is speedily excited, and an effort is 
soon made to expel it, either upward by the mouth or 
downward by the bowels. It is in this way, says Dr. 
Combe, that bile in the stomach excites nausea, and 
that tartar emetic produces vomiting. The nerves of 
the bowels, on the other hand, are constituted in relation 
to digested food ; and, consequently, when any thing es- 
capes into them from the stomach in an undigested state, 
it becomes a source of irritative excitement. This ac- 
counts for the cholic pains and bowel-complaints which 
so commonly attend the passage through the intestinal 



52 PHYSICAL EDUCATION. __ 

canal of such indigestible substances as fat, husks of 
fruits, berries, and cherry-stones. 

The process of digestion, which commences in the 
stomach, is completed in the intestines. Physiologists 
have hence sometimes called the former part of the pro- 
cess, or chymification, by the more simple term stomach 
digestion ; and the latter, or chylification, has been 
termed intestinal digestion. The bowels have distinct 
coats corresponding with those of the stomach. By 
the alternate contraction and relaxation of the muscu- 
lar coat, their contents are propelled in a downward 
direction, somewhat as motion is propagated from one 
end of a worm to the other. It has hence been called 
vermicular, or wormlike motion. Some medicines have 
the power of inverting the order of the muscular con- 
tractions. Emetics operate in this manner to produce 
vomiting. Other medicines, again, excite the natural 
action to a higher degree, and induce a cathartic ac- 
tion of the bowels. When medicines become neces- 
sary to obviate that kind of costiveness which arises 
from imperfect intestinal contraction, physicians usually 
administer rhubarb, aloes, and similar laxatives, com- 
bined with tonics. But when the muscular coat of the 
bowels is kept in a healthy condition by a natural mode 
of life, and is aided by the action of the abdominal 
muscles, it rarely becomes necessary to administer lax- 
ative medicines. 

The inner ormucous coat of the stomach and bowels 
is generally regarded by physiologists as a continua- 
tion of the skin. They greatly resemble each other in 
structure, and they are well known to sympathize with 
each other. Eruptions of the skin are very generally 
the result of disorders of the digestive organs. On the 
other hand, bowel complaints are frequently produced 
bv a chill on the surface. The mucous coat and the 



THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 53 

skin are both charged with the double function of ex- 
cretion and absorption. By the exercise of the former 
function, much of the waste matter of the system, re- 
quiring to be removed, is thrown into the intestines, 
and, mingling with the indigestible portion of the food, 
forms the common excrement ; while by the exercise 
of the latter function the nutritive portion of their con- 
tents is taken up, and, as we have seen, passes into the 
general circulation, and contributes either to promote 
growth or to repair waste. 

4. Evacuation. — This is the fourth and last principal 
step in the process of digestion. After the chyle is 
separated from the chyme and passes into the circula- 
tion, the indigestible and refuse portion of the food, 
which is incapable of nourishing the system, passes off 
through the intestinal canal. In its course its bulk is 
considerably increased by the excretion of waste mat- 
ter which has served its purposes in the system, and 
which, mingling with the innutritious and refuse part 
of the food, is thrown out of the body in the form of 
excrement. If the contents of the bowels are too long 
retained, uneasiness is produced. Hurtful matter, also, 
which should pass off by evacuation, is reabsorbed, 
passes again into the general circulation, and is ulti- 
mately thrown out of the system either by the lungs 
or through the pores of the skin. 

This part of the process of digestion is very import- 
ant, for it is impossible to enjoy good health while this 
function is imperfectly performed. To secure full and 
natural action in the intestinal canal, several principal 
conditions are necessary. These are, first, well-digest- 
ed chyme and chyle ; second, a due quantity and quali- 
ty of secretions from th-e mucous or lining membrane 
of the bowels ; third, a free and full contractile power 
of the muscular coat, and the unrestrained action of 



54 PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

the abdominal and respiratory muscles ; and, finally, a 
due nervous sensibility to receive impressions and com- 
municate the necessary stimulus. The contractile pow- 
er of the muscular coat, and the free passage of the in- 
testinal contents from the stomach downward, are great- 
ly aided by the constant but gentle agitation which the 
whole digestive apparatus receives during the act of 
breathing, and from exercise of every description. By 
free and deep inhalations of air into the lungs, the dia- 
phragm is depressed and the bowels are pushed down. 
But when the air is thrown out from the lungs, the dia- 
phragm rises into the chest, and the bowels follow, be- 
ing pressed upward by the contractile power of the 
abdominal muscles. During exercise, breathing is 
deeper and more free, which gives additional pressure 
to the bowels from above. The abdominal muscular 
contraction is also, in turn, more vigorous and exten- 
sive, and thus the motion is returned from below. Per- 
sons that take little or no exercise, or who allow the 
chest and bowels to be confined by tight clothing, lose 
this natural stimulus, and frequently become subjects 
of immense suffering from habits of costiveness. These 
should be removed if possible, and they generally can 
be by a proper course of discipline. This should have 
reference to both diet and exercise. Such articles of 
food should be used as tend to keep open the bowels. 
This should be combined with the free exercise of the 
lungs and the abdominal muscles. In addition to these, 
there should be a determination to secure a natural 
evacuation of the bowels at least once a day. This is 
regarded by physiologists generally as essential to 
health. Efforts should be continued until the habit is 
established. Some definite period should be fixed upon 
for this purpose. Soon after breakfast is, on many ac- 
counts, generally preferable. 



THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 55 

TrME for Meals. — Before passing from the subject 
of digestion, I will submit a few thoughts in relation to 
the times for eating. It has already been observed 
that three or four hours are generally necessary for the 
digestion of a simple meal. Usually, perhaps, a greater 
length of time is required. It is also an established 
doctrine, based upon the results of careful examination 
and experiment, that the stomach requires an interval 
of rest., after the process of digestion is finished, to en- 
able it to recover its tone before it can again enter 
upon the vigorous performance of its function. As a 
general rule, then,^ue or six hours should elapse be- 
tween meals. If the mode of life is indolent, a greater 
time is required; if active, less time will suffice. Where 
the usages of society will allow the principal meal to 
be taken near the middle of the day, the following time 
for meals is approved by physiologists generally : 
breakfast at 7 o'clock, dinner at half past 12, and tea 
at 6. Luncheons and late suppers should be avoided ; 
for the former will always be found to interfere with 
the healthful performance of the function of digestion, 
and the latter will induce restlessness, unpleasant 
dreams, and pain in the head. "A late supper," says 
the author of the philosophy of Health, " generally oc- 
casions deranged and disturbed sleep ; there is an ef- 
fort on the part of the nerves to be quiet, while the 
burdened stomach makes an effort to call them into ac- 
tion, and between these two contending efforts there is 
disturbance — a sort of gastric riot — during the whole 
night. This disturbance has sometimes terminated in 
a fit of apoplexy and in death." 

The Skin. — This membranous covering, which is 
spread over the surface of the body to shield the parts 
beneath, serves also as an excreting and secreting or- 
gan. By the great supply of blood which it receives, 



56 PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

it is admirably fitted for this purpose. The whole ani- 
mal system, as we have seen, is in a state of transition, 
decay and renovation constantly succeeding each 
other. While the stomach and alimentary canal take 
in new materials, the skin forms one of the principal 
outlets by which particles that are useless to the sys- 
tem are thrown out of the body. Every one knows 
that the skin perspires, and that checked perspiration 
is a powerful cause of disease and death ; but few 
have any just notion of the extent and influence of this 
exhalation. When the body is overheated by exercise, 
a copious sweat breaks out, which, by evaporation, 
carries off the excess of heat, and produces an agree- 
able feeling of coolness and refreshment. The saga- 
city of Franklin led him to the first discovery of the 
use of perspiration in reducing the heat of the body, 
and to point out the anology subsisting between this 
process and that of the evaporation of water from a 
rough porous surface, so constantly resorted to in the 
East and West Indies, and in other warm countries, as 
an efficacious means of reducing the temperature of the 
air in rooms, and of w r ine and other drinks, much be- 
low that of the surrounding atmosphere. This is the 
higher and more obvious degree of the function of ex- 
halation. But in the ordinary state of the system, the 
skin is constantly giving out a large quantity of waste 
materials by what is called insensible perspiration ; 
a process which is of great importance to the pres- 
ervation of health, and which is called insensible, be- 
cause the exhalation, being in the form of vapor, and 
carried off by the surrounding air, is invisible to the 
eye. But its presence may often be made manifest, 
even to the sight, by the near approach of a dry cool 
mirror, on the surface of which it will soon be con- 
densed so as to become visible. It is this which causes 



THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 57 

so copious deposites upon the windows of a crowded 
school-room in cold weather. A portion of these ex- 
halations, however, proceed from the lungs. 

There is an experiment that may be easily tried, 
which affords conclusive evidence that the amount of 
insensible perspiration is much greater than it is ordi- 
narily supposed to be. Take a dry glass jar, with a 
neck three or four inches in diameter, and thrust the 
hand and a part of the forearm into it, closing the 
space in the neck about the arm with a handkerchief. 
After the lapse of a few minutes, it will be seen, by 
drawing the fingers across the inside of the jar, that 
the insensible perspiration even from the hand is very 
considerable. Many attempts have been made to es- 
timate accurately the amount of exhaled matter carried 
off through the skin ; but many difficulties stand in the 
way of obtaining precise results. There is a great 
difference in different constitutions, and even in the 
same person at different times, in consequence of which 
we must be satisfied with an approximation to the truth. 

Although the precise amount of perspiration can not 
be ascertained, it is generally agreed that the cutane- 
ous exhalation is greater than the united excretions of 
both bowels and kidneys. Great attention has been 
given to this subject. Sanctorius, a celebrated medical 
writer, weighed himself, his food, and his excretions, 
daily, for thirty days. He inferred from his experi- 
ments that Jive pounds of every eight, of both food and 
drink, taken into the system, pass out through the skfn. 
All physiologists agree that from twenty to forty 
ounces pass off through the skin of an adult in usual 
health every twenty-four hours. Take the lowest es- 
timate, and we find the skin charged with the removal 
of twenty ounces of waste matter from the system every 
day. We can thus see ample reason why checked 

C2 



58 PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

perspiration proves so detrimental to health ; for every 
twenty-four hours during which such a state continues, 
we must either have this amount of useless and hurt- 
ful matter accumulating in the system, or some of the 
other organs of excretion must be greatly overtasked, 
which obviously can not happen without disturbing 
their regularity and well-being. Jt is generally known 
that continued exposure in a cold day produces either 
a bowel complaint or inflammation of some internal or- 
gan. Instead of expressing surprise at this, if people 
generally understood the structure and uses of their 
own bodies, they would rather wonder why one or the 
other of these effects is not always attendant upon so 
great a violation of the laws of health, which are the 
laws of God. 

The lungs also excrete a large proportion of waste 
matter from the system. So far, then, their office is 
similar to that of the kidneys, the liver, and the bowels. 
In consequence of this alliance with the skin, these 
parts are more intimately connected with each other, 
in both healthy and diseased action, than with other or- 
gans. Whenever an organ is unusually delicate, it will 
be more easily affected by any cause of disease than 
those which are sound. Thus, in one instance, checked 
perspiration may produce a bowel complaint, and in 
another, inflammation of the lungs, and so on. Hence 
the fitness, in prescribing remedies, of adapting them 
not only to the disease itself, but of taking into the ac- 
count the cause of the disease. A bowel complaint, for 
example, may arise either from overeating or from a 
check to perspiration. The thing to be cured is the 
same in both cases, but the means of cure ought obvi- 
ously to be different. In one instance, an emetic or 
laxative, to carry off the offending cause, would be the 
most rational and efficacious remedy ; in the other, 



THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 59 

a diaphoretic should be administered, to open the skin 
and restore it to a healthy action. Facts like these ex- 
pose the ignorance and impudence of the quack, who 
undertakes to cure every form of disease by one rem- 
edy. 

It has already been remarked that the skin is charged 
with the double function of excretion and absorption. 
We have a striking illustration of the exercise of the 
latter function in the vaccination of children and others, 
to protect them from small-pox. A small quantity of 
cow-pox matter is inserted under the external layer of 
the skin, where it is acted upon, and in a short time 
taken into the system by the absorbent vessels. In like 
manner, when the perspiration is brought to the sur- 
face of the skin, and confined there, either by injudi- 
cious clothing or by want of cleanliness, there is much 
reason to believe that its residual parts are again ab- 
sorbed. It is established by observation that concen- 
trated animal effluvia form a very energetic poison. 
We can, then, see why the absorption of the residual 
parts of perspiration produces fever, inflammation, and 
even death itself, according to its quantity and degree 
of concentration. This leads me to notice the import- 
ance of 

Bathing. — The exhalation from the skin being so 
constant and extensive, and the bad effects of it when 
confined being so great, it becomes very important that 
we provide for its removal. This can be most easily 
and effectually accomplished by frequently bathing the 
whole body. This is a luxury within the reach of all, 
but one which is unappreciated by those who have not 
enjoyed it. An aged gentleman said to me recently, 
that in early life he " used to go a swimming frequently 
and enjoyed it much ; but," he added, " I have not bathed 
or washed myself all over for the last thirty years /" 



60 PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

This, it is believed, is an extreme case. But it is to be 
feared there are not wanting instances in which per- 
sons do not bathe the entire person once a month, or 
once a year even ! When the residual parts of the per- 
spiration are not removed by washing or bathing, they 
at last obstruct the pores and irritate the skin. It is 
apparently for this reason that, in the Eastern and 
warmer countries, where perspiration is very copious, 
ablution and bathing have assumed the rank and im- 
portance of religious observances. Those who are in 
the habit of using the flesh-brush daily are at first sur- 
prised at the quantity of white dry scurf which it brings 
off; and those who take a warm bath for half an hour 
at long intervals can not have failed to notice the great 
amount of impurities which it removes, and the grate- 
ful feeling of comfort which its use imparts. It is re- 
marked by an eminent physician, that the warm, tepid, 
cold, or shower bath, as a means of preserving health, 
ought to be in as common use as a change of apparel, 
for it is equally a measure of necessary cleanliness. 
Many, no doubt, neglect this, and enjoy health notwith- 
standing ; but many more suffer from its omission ; and 
even the former would be greatly benefited by employ- 
ing it. Cleanliness, then, is as essential to health as to 
decency. Still more, it promotes not only physical 
health, but contributes largely to strengthen and invig- 
orate the intellectual faculties, and to elevate and purify 
the affections. It comes, then, to be ranked among the 
cardinal virtues. 

To secure the benefits of bathing or ablution, a great 
amount of apparatus is not necessary. A shower-bath, 
or plunge-bath, may not be best for all. Every one 
can procure a wash-bowl and one or two quarts of 
water, which are all that is necessary. To prevent the 
reduction of heat in the system by evaporation, and 



THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 61 

especially in cold weather, it will usually be found best 
to bathe the body by sections. It is generally agreed 
that the morning is the best time for bathing. Imme- 
diately on rising, then, the clothing being removed, let 
the head, face, and neck be washed as usual, and thor- 
oughly dried by the use of a towel. Proceed to wash 
the chest and abdomen, which may be dried as before, 
after which a coarse towel or a flesh-brush should be 
vigorously applied, until the skin is perfectly dry, and 
there is a pleasant glow upon the surface. The back 
and limbs, in turn, should be washed, dried, and excited 
to a healthy and pleasant glow by friction. This last 
is of the utmost importance. If not easily secured, salt 
or vinegar may be added to the water, both of which 
are excellent stimulants to the skin.* When these are 
used, and care is taken to excite in the surface, by sub- 
sequent friction with a coarse towel, flesh-brush, or 
hair glove, the healthful glow of reaction, it will be 
found to contribute largely to both physical and mental 
comfort. The beneficial results will be more apparent 
if, while bathing and rubbing the chest and abdomen, 
pains are taken to throw back the shoulders, expand 
the lungs, and enlarge the chest. 

By an act of the Legislature of the commonwealth 
of Massachusetts, passed in April last, it is required 
that " physiology and hygiene shall hereafter be taught 
in the schools of that commonwealth, in all cases in 
which the school committee shall deem it expedient." 

When physiology is not made a study in school, the 
teacher should 'not fail to give familiar and instructive 
lectures on the subject. I know of instances where, 
by this simple means, the habits of a whole school, 

* It will frequently be found, more convenient, and will be well-nigh 
as serviceable, to wash in soft water as usual, and. excite a reaction in 
the skin in the use of a towel that has been dipped in brine and dried. 



62 PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

composed of several hundred youth of both sexes, have 
been radically changed ; and the practice of daily ablu- 
tion has ceased to be the luxury of the few, having be- 
come the necessity not only of teachers and scholars, 
but of the families in which thev reside. There is the 
most satisfactory evidence that cleanliness is conducive 
to health.* How important it is, then, that habits of 
cleanliness be formed at an early age. 

Dr. Weiss, a distinguished German physician, in his 
remarks on this subject, says, the best time, undoubt- 
edly, for these ablutions, is the morning. They are to 
be performed immediately after rising from the bed, 
when the temperature of the body is raised by the heat 
of the bed. The sudden change favors in a great 
measure the reaction which ensues, and excites the 
skin, rendered more sensitive by the perspiration dur- 
ing the night, to renewed activity. Cold ablutions, 
he adds, are fitted for all constitutions ; they are best 
adapted for purifying and strengthening the body ; for 
women, weak subjects, children, and old age. The 
room in which the ablution is performed may be slight- 
ly heated for debilitated patients in winter, to prevent 
colds in consequence of too low a temperature of the 
apartment ; this exception is, however, only admissible 

* The friends of educational reform may well take courage from the 
increased attention which the subject of physical education is of late 
receiving from the pulpit and the press, those mighty conservators of the 
public weal. Since the text was prepared for the press, the following 
remarks and pertinent inquiry have appeared in the Family Favorite 
for February, 1850. They are quoted from a Discourse by the editor, 
the Rev. James V. Watson, on the First Sabbath of the New Year: 

" The true interpretation of the providence of God in Asiatic cholera 
perhaps has never yet fully been given. Is it not one of God's marked 
modes of rebuking intemperance, physical uncleanness, and social deg- 
radation — evils which result from perverted appetite, wrong forms of 
government, and a want of Christian benevolence? The reformer, 
the philanthropist, and the Christian may learn a lesson here." 



THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 63 

for very weakly persons. Generally speaking, ablu- 
tions may be performed in a cold room, especially 
where persons get through the operation quickly, and 
can immediately afterward take exercise in the open 
air. 

It is the opinion of Dr. Combe that bathing is a safe 
and valuable preservative of health, in ordinary cir- 
cumstances, and an active remedy in disease. Instead 
of being dangerous by causing liability to cold, it is, he 
says, when well managed, so much the reverse, that 
he has used it much and successfully for the express 
purpose of diminishing such liability, both in himself 
and in others in whom the chest is delicate. In his own 
instance, in particular, he is conscious of having derived 
much advantage from its regular employment, espe- 
cially in the colder months of the year, during which 
he has found himself most effectually strengthened 
against the impression of cold by repeating the bath 
at shorter intervals than usual. I shall conclude my 
remarks on bathing by presenting a paragraph from 
this transatlantic author. 

If the bath can not be had at all places, soap and 
water may be obtained every where, and leave no 
apology for neglecting the skin. If the constitution be 
delicate, water and vinegar, or water and salt, used 
daily, form an excellent and safe means of cleansing 
and gently stimulating the skin. To the invalid they 
are highly beneficial, when the nature of the indisposi- 
tion does not render them improper. A rough and 
rather coarse towel is a very useful auxiliary in such 
ablutions. Few of those who have steadiness to keep 
up the action of the skin by the above means, and to 
avoid strong and exciting causes, will ever suffer from 
colds, sore throats, or similar complaints ; while, as a 
means of restoring health, they are often incalculably 



64 PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

serviceable. If one tenth of the persevering attention 
and labor bestowed to so much purpose in rubbing 
down and currying the skins of horses were bestowed 
by the human race in keeping themselves in good con- 
dition, and a little attention were paid to diet and 
clothing, colds, nervous diseases, and stomach com- 
plaints would cease to form so large an item in the 
catalogue of human miseries. Man studies the nature 
of other animals, and adapts his conduct to their con- 
stitution ; himself alone he continues ignorant of and 
neglects. He considers himself a being of superior 
order, and not subject to the laws of organization which 
regulate the functions of the lower animals ; but this 
conclusion is the result of ignorance and pride, and not 
a just inference from the premises on which it is osten- 
sibly founded. 

Clothing. — The skin is very materially affected in 
the healthy performance of its functions by the nature 
and condition of the clothing. It is a very commonly 
received opinion that one principal object in clothing 
is to impart heat to the body. This, however, is an 
erroneous idea ; the utmost that it can do is to prevent 
the escape of heat. All articles of clothing are not alike 
in this respect. Some conduct the heat from the body 
readily, and are hence much used in warm weather ; 
as linen, for example. Others, again, have very little 
tendency to convey heat from the body, and are hence 
sought in cold weather. Of this nature are furs, and 
cloths manufactured from wool. I do not intend in this 
connection to speak of the merits of different kinds of 
clothing, but to remark simply upon the necessity of 
changing clothes often, or at least of ventilating them 
frequently. This remark applies particularly to all 
articles of clothing worn next to the skin, and to beds. 
Clothes worn next to the skin during the day should 



THE LAWS OF HEALTH. G*i 

be removed on going to bed, and a fresh sleeping-gown 
should be put on. The former should be hung up in a 
situation that will allow the accumulated perspiration 
of the day to pass off by evaporation. By this means 
they will become sufficiently freshened and ventilated, 
by morning, to be worn another day, when the night- 
clothes, in turn, should be ventilated. Beds also should 
be thrown open and exposed to fresh air with open 
doors, or at least windows, several hours before being 
made. In our best-regulated boarding schools, and 
literary and benevolent institutions of all kinds, partic- 
ular attention is now paid to this subject. In some in- 
stances, lodging rooms are furnished with frames for 
the express purpose of facilitating the ventilation of the 
bed-clothes. Immediately on rising in the morning, the 
clothes are removed from the beds, and exposed upon 
these frames to a current of fresh air for several hours, 
the windows being opened for that purpose. Notwith- 
standing care be taken to promote personal cleanliness 
by daily ablutions, if the ventilation of beds and cloth- 
ing be neglected, and perspiration be suffered to accu- 
mulate in them, it may be reabsorbed, and, passing 
again into the circulation, produce all the mischief of 
which I have before spoken. 

The Teeth. — I have already spoken of the relation 
the teeth sustain to digestion. Their use in the proper 
mastication of food is essential to the healthy and vig- 
orous performance of this important function. The 
proper use of a good set of teeth contributes largely to 
both the physical comfort, and the intellectual and 
moral well-being of their possessor ; but when neg- 
lected, they very commonly decay and become useless ; 
nay, more, they are not unfrequently a source of great 
and almost constant discomfort for years. In order to 
preserve the teeth, they must be kept clean. After 



66 PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

every meal, they should be cleaned with a brush and 
water. A tooth-pick will sometimes be found neces- 
sary in the removal of particles of food that are inac- 
cessible to the brush. Metallic tooth-picks injure the 
enamel, and should not be used. Those made of ivory, 
or the common goose-quill, are unobjectionable. The 
brush should be used, not only after each meal, but the 
last thing at night and the first thing in the morning. 
This will prevent the accumulation of tartar, which so 
commonly incrusts neglected teeth. If suffered to re- 
main, it gradually accumulates, presses upon the gums, 
and destroys their health. By this means the roots of 
the teeth become bare, and thus deprived of their nat- 
ural stimulus, they prematurely decay. Food or drink 
either very hot or very cold is exceedingly injurious 
to the teeth. Sour drops, acidulated drinks, and all 
articles of food that " set the teeth on edge," are inju- 
rious, and should be carefully avoided. Should it be- 
come necessary to take sour drops as a medicine, they 
should be given through a quill, and every precaution 
should be taken to prevent their coming in contact 
with the teeth. Even then the mouth should be well 
rinsed immediately after they are swallowed. 

Disordered digestion is a great source of injury to 
the teeth both in childhood and in mature age. When 
digestion is vigorous, there is less deposition of tartar, 
and the teeth are naturally of a purer white. Especial- 
ly is this true when the general health is good, and the 
diet plain, and contains a full proportion of vegetable 
matter. This accounts for the fact that many rustics 
and savages possess teeth that would be envied in town. 
Tobacco is sometimes used as a preservative of the 
teeth. It is, indeed, occasionally prescribed as a cura- 
tive by ignorant physicians, and those who are willing 
to pander to the diseased appetites of their patients. 



THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 67 

But there is the best medical testimony that the use of 
this filthy weed " debilitates the vessels of the gums, turns 
the teeth yellow, and renders the appearance of the mouth 
disagreeable." Dr. Rush informs us that he knew a 
man in Philadelphia who lost all his teeth by smoking. 
In speaking of the moral effects of this practice, he adds, 
" Smoking and chewing tobacco, by rendering water 
and other simple liquors insipid to the taste, dispose 
very much to the stronger stimulus of ardent spirits ; 
hence the practice of smoking cigars throughout our 
country has been followed by the use of brandy and 
water as a common drink." A dentist of extensive 
and successful practice in the Middle and Western 
States, after listening to the reading of this article, said 
to me, he had a patient, a young lady, two of whose 
front teeth had decayed through, laterally, in conse- 
quence of smoking. On removing the caries, he found 
it impossible to fill her teeth, because the openings con- 
tinued through them. He thinks, as do many others, 
that the heat of the smoke is a principal cause of the 
injury. 

Among the conditions upon which the healthy action 
of the voluntary organs depends is a due degree of 
appropriate exercise. This is a general law, and holds 
with reference to the teeth as well as to any other or- 
gan or set of organs. The proper mastication of 
healthful and nutritious food constitutes the appropri- 
ate exercise of the teeth, and is a condition upon 
which their health, and the healthy exercise of the 
function of digestion, alike depend. If from any cause 
the teeth of one jaw are removed, the corresponding 
teeth of the other jaw, being thus deprived of that ex- 
ercise which is essential to their health, are pressed out 
of the jaw, appear to grow long, become loose in their 
sockets, and sometimes fall out. Hence the propriety 



GS PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

and advantage of inserting artificial teeth where the 
natural ones fail ; an event which rarely happens when 
they are properly taken care of. I need hardly add 
that nuts, and other hard substances that break the en- 
amel, are injurious to the teeth, and should be avoided. 

The Bones. — The bones constitute the frame-w T ork 
of the system. They consist of two substances, being 
formed of both animal and earthy matter. To the form- 
er belongs every thing connected with their life and 
growth, while the latter gives to them solidity and 
strength. The proportions of the animal and earthy 
elements of which the bones are composed vary at. 
different ages. In childhood and early youth, when, 
but little strength is needed, and great growth of bone 
is required, the animal part preponderates. As growth 
advances the animal part decreases, and the earthy 
part increases. In middle life, when growth is finished 
and the strength is greatest, and when nutrition is re- 
quired only to repair waste, the proportions are chang- 
ed, and the solid or earthy part exceeds the vital or ani- 
mal ; and in extreme old age, the earthy part so pre- 
dominates as to cause the bones to become very brittle. 

The bones, like other parts of the system, require ex- 
ercise. If properly used, they increase in size and 
strength. But while a due degree of exercise is bene- 
ficial, it ought to be remarked that severe and contin- 
ued labor should not be required of children and youth ; 
for its tendency is to increase the deposition of earthy 
matter to a hurtful extent. It is by this means that 
many children are made dwarfs for life, their bones be- 
ing consolidated by an undue amount of exercise and 
excessive labor before they have attained their full 
growth. Multitudes of children in our country, from 
this and kindred causes, fail of attaining the size of their 
ancestors. These remarks may be turned to a practi- 



THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 69 

eal account in the familv and in the school. At birth, 
many of the bones are scarcely more than cartilage ; 
yet children are frequently urged to stand and walk 
long before the bones become sufficiently strong to sus- 
tain the pressure ; and, as a consequence, their legs be- 
come crooked, and they are perhaps other ways de- 
formed for life. Children ought always, when seated, 
to be able to rest their feet upon the floor. When they 
occupy a seat that is too high, and especially when they 
are unable to reach their feet, to the floor, the thigh 
bones very frequently become curved. If, in addition 
to high seats, the back is not supported, children be- 
come round shouldered, their chests contract, their con- 
stitutions become permanently enfeebled, and they be- 
come peculiarly susceptible to pulmonary disease. The 
back to the seat should afford a pleasant and agreeable 
support to the small of the back, but it ought not to 
reach to the shoulder blades. 

Parents and teachers should never forget that chil- 
dren are as susceptible to physical training as to intel- 
lectual or moral culture. And here, especially, they 
should be " trained up in the way they should go." 
Physical uprightness is next to moral. If children are 
allowed to contract bad physical habits, they are liable 
not only to grow crooked, but to become deformed in 
various ways. But so great is the power of education, 
that by it even the physically crooked may be made 
straight ; the chest may be enlarged, the general health 
may be improved, and much may be done in many 
ways to fortify those who have inherited feeble consti- 
tutions against the attacks of disease. The benefits 
resulting from maintaining an upright form, and a free 
and open chest, have already been considered, and I 
shall have occasion to refer to them again. The chest 
of most adults, although incased with bone, may be in- 



70 PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

creased several inches by drawing the arms back in 
the use of nature's own shoulder-braces, and at the same 
time taking deep inhalations of air, and filling the lungs 
to their utmost capacity. Hundreds of individuals in 
different parts of the country have borne testimony to 
the efficacy of this treatment in the improvement of 
their health. The good results of such discipline in 
childhood are still more manifest. 

A stooping posture is frequently induced by sitting 
at tables and desks that are too low. It has been erro- 
neously maintained by some that the top of the desk 
should be on the same plane with the elbow when the 
arm hangs by the side. When the desk is higher, it 
has been said the tendency is to elevate one shoulder, 
to depress the other, and to produce a permanent curv- 
ature of the spinal column. Although this may have 
been frequently the result of sitting at a high desk, yet 
it is not a necessary result. To prevent the projection 
of one shoulder, and the consequent spinal curvature, 
both of the arms must be kept on the same level. For 
this purpose, there should be room to support them 
equally ; and care should be taken to see that this sup- 
port is regularly sought. If this be not done, the right 
arm will be apt to rise above the left, from its more 
constant use and elevation. A physician, highly cele- 
brated for the success that has attended his treatment 
for lung affections, after dwelling upon the injury to 
the health that frequently results from sitting at too 
low desks, remarks, that " every parent should go to 
the school-rooms, and know for a certainty that the 
desks at which his children write or study are fully up 
to the arm-pits, and in no case allow them to sit stoop- 
ing, or leaning the shoulders forward on the chest. If 
fatigued by this posture, they should be called to stand, 
or go out of doors and run about." The height of table 



THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 71 

I find most conducive to comfort for my own use is 
midway between the two; that is, halfway from the 
elbow (as the arm hangs by the side) to the arm-pit. 
It is necessary, however, to rest both arms equally upon 
the table. The secret of posture consists in avoiding 
all bad positions, and in not continuing any one posi- 
tion too long. The ordinary carriage of the body is 
an object worthy of the attention of every parent and 
instructor. The more favorable impression which a 
man of erect and commanding attitude is sure to make, 
should not be overlooked. But there is a greater good 
than this ; for he who walks erect, enjoys better health, 
possesses increased powers of usefulness, realizes more 
that he is a man, and has more to call forth gratitude 
to a beneficent Creator, than he who adopts an oblique 
posture. It was just remarked that " physical upright- 
ness is next to moral." Physical obliquity, it may be 
added, is akin to moral. If they are not German-cous- 
ins, there can be little doubt but that, considered in all 
its bearings, the tendency of the former is to induce 
the latter. 

Important as an erect posture and a well-developed 
chest are to gentlemen, they are in some respects even 
more so to the fairer sex ; for, in addition to the advan- 
tages already considered, which both enjoy in common, 
these impart to them a peculiar charm, that to men of 
sense is far greater than pretty faces, which Nature has 
not given to all. " For a great number of years, it has 
been the custom in France to give young females, of 
the earliest age, the habit of holding back the shoulders, 
and thus expanding the chest. From the observations 
of anatomists lately made, it appears that the clavicle 
or collar bone is actually longer in females of the 
French nation than in those of the English. As the 
two nations are of the same race, as there is no remark- 



72 PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

able difference in their bones, and this is peculiar to the 
sex. it must be attributed, as I believe, to the habit above 
mentioned, which, by the extension of the arms, has 
gradually produced an elongation of this bone. Thus 
we see that habit may be employed to alter and im- 
prove the solid bones. The French have succeeded 
in the development of a part in a way that adds to 
health and beauty, and increases a characteristic that 
distinguishes the human being from the brute."* 

The Muscles. — The muscles consist of compact 
bundles of fleshy fibers, which are found in animals on 
removing the skin. They constitute the red fleshy 
part of meat, and give form and symmetry to the body. 
In the limbs they surround and protect the bones, 
while in the trunk they spread out and constitute a de- 
fensive wall for the protection of the vital parts be- 
neath. The muscles have been divided into three 
parts, of which the middle and fleshy portion, called 
the belly, is most conspicuous. The otJaer two parts 
are the opposite ends, and are commonly called the 
origin and insertion of the muscle. The origin is 
usually fastened to one bone, and the insertion is at- 
tached to another. By the contraction of the belly of 
the muscle, the insertion, which is movable, is drawn 
toward the origin, which is fixed, and brings with it 
the bone to which it is attached. This any one can 
see illustrated in bending the arm. The muscle which 
performs this function lies between the elbow and the 
shoulder. It is attached to the shoulder by its origin, 
and to one of the bones of the fore-arm, just below the 
elbow, by its insertion. By grasping the arm midway 

* Quoted into the Schoolmaster (a work published in London under 
the superintendence of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowl- 
edge) from a lecture delivered by Dr. J. C. Warren before the Amer- 
ican Institute of Instruction, August, 1830. 



THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 73 

between the shoulder and the elbow with the opposite 
hand, and then bending the arm, the enlargement of 
the belly of the muscle by the contraction will be at 
once perceived. Then, by moving the hand down on 
the inside of the arm toward the elbow, the lessening 
muscle may be readily traced until it terminates in a 
tendon, of much less size than the muscle, but of great 
strength, which is inserted into the bone just below 
the elbow. As the fore-arm is drawn up, and espe- 
cially if there be a weight in the hand, the tendon may 
be felt just within the elbow-joint, running toward the 
point of insertion. Extend the arm at the elbow, and 
the muscle on the outside of the arm will swell and 
become firm, while the inside muscle, and its tendon at 
the elbow, will be relaxed. This example well illus- 
trates the principle on which all the joints of the sys- 
tem are moved. Those who are acquainted with me- 
chanics will readily perceive that the action just de- 
scribed is an example of the " third kind of lever," 
where the power is applied between the weight and 
the fulcrum. The elbow is the fulcrum, the hand con- 
tains the weight, and the tendon, inserted into the bone 
just below the elbow, is the power. This kind of lever 
requires the power to be greater than the weight, and 
acts under what is called a mechanical disadvantage. 
What is lost in power, however, is compensated in in- 
creased velocity. 

There are upward of four hundred muscles in the 
human body. Some of these are voluntary in their 
motions, as those I have described, while others are 
involuntary, as the action of the heart and the respira- 
tory muscles. Had the action of these depended upon 
the will, as does the action of the muscles of locomo- 
tion, the circulation of the blood and the process of 
breathing would cease, and life would become extinct 

D 



74 PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

whenever sleep or any other cause should overcome 
the attention. Here, then, we have another beautiful 
illustration of the wisdom and beneficence of the Crea- 
tor in so ordering that those muscles which are essen- 
tial to the continuation of life shall perform their func- 
tions without the control or attention of the individual. 

The study of the muscular system involves an ex- 
position of the principles by which exercise should be 
regulated, and can scarcely fail to excite the attention 
of the general reader, and especially of those who, as 
parents or teachers, are interested in the education of 
the young. 

The muscles enable us to move the frame-work oi 
the system. Their chief purpose obviously is to ena- 
ble us to carry into effect the various resolutions and 
designs which have been formed by the mind. But, 
while fulfilling this grand object, their active exercise 
is, at the same time, highly conducive to the well-being 
of many other important functions. By muscular con- 
traction, the blood is gently assisted in its course through 
the smaller vessels to the more distant parts of the 
body ; and by it the important processes of digestion, 
respiration, secretion, absorption, and nutrition are 
promoted ; and by it the health of the whole body is 
immediately and greatly influenced. The mind itself 
is exhilarated or depressed by the proper or improper 
use of muscular exercise. It thus becomes a point of 
no slight importance to establish general principles by 
which that exercise may be regulated. 

In every part of the animal economy, the muscles 
are proportioned in size and structure to the efforts re- 
quired of them. Whenever a muscle is called into fre- 
quent use, its fibers increase in thickness within cer- 
tain limits, and become capable of acting with greater 
force and readiness. On the other hand, when a mus- 



THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 75 

cle is little used, its volume and power decrease in a 
corresponding degree. 

In order to secure the most beneficial results from 
exercise, reference should be had to the time at which 
it is taken. Those who are in perfect health may en- 
gage in it at almost any hour except immediately aftei 
a meal ; but those who are not robust ought to confine 
their hours of exercise within narrower limits. To a 
person in full vigor, a good walk, or other brisk exer- 
cise before breakfast may be highly beneficial and ex- 
hilarating, while to an invalid or delicate person it 
will be likely to prove detrimental. In order to prove 
beneficial, exercise must be resorted to only when the 
system is sufficiently vigorous to be able to meet it. 
This is usually the case after a lapse of from two to 
four hours after a moderate meal. The forenoon, then, 
will generally be found the best time for exercise for 
persons whose habits are sedentary. If exercise be 
delayed till the system feels exhaustion from want of 
food, its tendency will be to dissipate the strength that 
remains and impair digestion ; while, if taken at the 
proper time, it will invigorate the system and promote 
digestion. The reasons are obvious ; for exercise of 
every kind causes increased action and waste in the 
organ, and if there be not materials and vigor enough 
in the system to keep up that action and supply the 
waste, nothing but increased debility can reasonably 
be expected. 

Active exercise immediately before meals is injurious. 
The reasons are apparent, for muscular exercise di- 
rects a flow of blood and nervous energy to the sur- 
face and extremities; and it is an established law in 
physiology, that energetic action can not be kept up in 
two distant parts of the system at the same time. 
Hence, whenever a meal is taken immediately after 



76 PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

vigorous exercise, the stomach is taken at disadvan- 
tage, and, from want of the necessary action in its ves- 
sels nnd nerves, is unable to carry on digestion with 
success. This is very obviously the case where the 
exercise has been severe or protracted. 

Active exercise ought to be equally avoided imme- 
diately after a heavy meal, for then the functions of 
the digestive organs are in the highest^tate of activity. 
If the muscular system be called into vigorous action 
under such circumstances, it will cause a withdrawal 
of the vital stimuli of the blood and nervous influence 
from the stomach to the extremities, which can not fail 
greatly to retard the digestive process. In accordance 
with this well-established fact, there is a natural and 
marked aversion to active pursuits after a full meal. A 
mere stroll, which requires no exertion and does not 
fatigue, will not be injurious before or after eating ; 
but exercise beyond this limit is at such times hurtful. 
All, therefore, who would preserve and improve their 
health, will find it to their advantage to observe faith- 
fully this important law, otherwise they will deprive 
themselves of most of the benefits that are usually at- 
tendant upon judicious exercise. All, then, who are 
forced to much exertion immediately after eating, should 
satisfy themselves with partaking of a very moderate 
meal. These remarks apply to both physical and men- 
tal exercise ; for if the intellect be intently occupied in 
profound and absorbing thought, the nervous energy 
will be concentrated in the brain, and any demands 
made on it by the stomach or muscles will be very im- 
perfectly attended to. So, also, if the stomach be ac- 
tively engaged in digesting a full meal, and some sub- 
ject of thought be presented to the mind, considerable 
difficulty will be felt in pursuing it, and most probably 
both thought and digestion will be disturbed. 



THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 77 

Another law of the muscular system requires that 
relaxation and contraction should alternate ; or, in 
other words, that rest should follow exercise. In ac- 
cordance with this law, -it is easier to walk than to 
stand ; and in standing, it is easier to change from one 
foot to the other than to stand still. To require a child 
to extend his arm and hold a book in his hand, or even 
to keep the arm extended but a short time, is a viola- 
tion of this law which should never be permitted. Akin 
to this is the very injudicious practice, which is some- 
times resorted to in schools, of requiring a boy to 
stoop over, and, placing his finger upon a nail in the 
floor, " hold it in." Teachers who are disposed to in- 
flict punishments like these ought first to try the ex- 
periment themselves. Such protracted tension of the 
muscles enfeebles their action, and ultimately destroys 
their power of contraction. 

These remarks sufficiently explain why small chil- 
dren, after sitting a while in school, become restless. 
Proper regard for this organic law requires that the 
smaller children in school be allowed a recess as often, 
at least, as once an hour ; and that all be allowed and 
encouraged frequently to change their position. I fully 
concur in the opinion expressed by Dr. Caldwell, who 
says, " It would be infinitely wiser and better to employ 
suitable persons to superintend the exercises and amuse- 
ments of children under seven years of age, in the fields, 
orchards, and meadows, and point out to them the 
richer beauties of nature, than to have them immured 
in crowded school-rooms, in a state of inaction, poring 
over torn books and primers, conning words of whose 
meaning they are ignorant, and breathing foul air." 

A change of position calls into action a different set 
of muscles, and relieves those that are exhausted. The 
object of exercise is to employ all the muscles of the 



78 PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

body, and especially to strengthen those that are weak. 
It ought hence to be frequently varied, and always 
adapted to the peculiarities of individuals. Different 
kinds of exercise will therefore be found to suit differ- 
ent constitutions. Sedentary persons best enjoy, and 
will be most profited by, that kind of exercise which 
brings into action the greatest number of muscles. 

To give exercise its greatest value, it should be taken 
at the same hour every day. This is well-nigh as im- 
portant as the rule that requires meals to be taken reg- 
ularly. If exercise be taken irregularly, one day in 
the morning, another day at noon, and another day at 
night, if at all, it is possible that good may result from 
it, but its beneficial effects would be greatly increased 
if the same amount of exercise were taken every day 
at the same hours. Give the system an opportunity of 
establishing good habits in this respect, and it will de- 
rive great advantage from them ; but it is difficult for 
it to derive any benefit from a habit of irregularity, if 
such may be called a habit. Students, teachers, and all 
persons who lead sedentary lives, should have their reg- 
ular times for exercise as well as for meals, and if they 
find it necessary to do without one, they will generally 
find it advantageous to dispense with the other also. 

Walking, it has been said, agrees with every body. 
But as it brings into play chiefly the lower limbs and 
muscles of the loins, and affords little scope for the play 
of the arms and muscles of the chest, it is of itself in- 
sufficient to constitute adequate exercise. To render 
it most beneficial, the shoulders should be drawn back, 
and the chest should be enlarged by taking deep inspi- 
rations of pure air. The muscles of the chest, and of 
every part of the body, should be free to move and un- 
confined by tight clothing. Fencing, shuttlecock, and 
such other useful sports as combine with them free 



THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 79 

movements of the upper part of the body, are doubly 
advantageous, for they not only exercise the muscles 
of the whole body, but possess the additional advantage 
of animating the mind and increasing the nervous stim- 
ulus, by which exercise is rendered easy, pleasant, and 
invigorating. For the purpose of developing the chest, 
physiologists generally concur in recommending fenc- 
ing as a good exercise for boys. Shuttlecock is a very 
beneficial exercise for females, calling into play, as it 
does, the muscles of the chest, trunk, and arms. It 
ought to be practiced in the open air. When played 
with both hands, as it may be after a little practice, it 
is very useful in preventing curvature, and in giving 
vigor to the spine. It is an excellent plan to play with 
a battledore in each hand, and to strike with them al- 
ternately. The graces is another play well adapted for 
expanding the chest, and giving strength to the muscles 
of the back, and has the advantage of being practicable 
in the open air. It is very important that the muscles 
of the back be strengthened by due exercise, for their 
proper use contributes to both health and beauty. 

When managed with due regard to the natural pow- 
ers of the individual, and so as to avoid effort and fa- 
tigue, reading aloud becomes a very useful and invigo- 
rating exercise. In forming and undulating the voice, 
not only the chest, but also the diaphragm and abdom- 
inal muscles are in constant action, and communicate 
to the stomach and bowels a healthy and agreeable 
stimulus. Where the voice is raised and the elocution 
is rapid, the muscular effort becomes fatiguing; but 
when care is taken not to carry reading aloud so far 
at one time as to excite a sensation of soreness or fa- 
tigue in the chest, and the exercise is duly repeated, it 
is extremely useful in developing and giving tone to the 
organs of respiration and to the general system. 



80 PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

"Vocal music is also very useful, by its direct effect 
on the constitution. It was the opinion of Dr. Rush, 
that young ladies especially, who, by the custom of so- 
ciety, are debarred from many kinds of salubrious ex- 
ercise, should cultivate singing, not only as an accom- 
plishment, but as a means of preserving health. He 
particularly insists that it should never be neglected in 
the education of females ; and states that, besides its 
salutary operation in enabling them to soothe the cares 
of domestic life, and quiet sorrow by the united assist- 
ance of the sound and sentiment of a properly chosen 
song, it has a still more direct and important effect. 'I 
here introduce a fact,' he remarks, « which has been 
suggested to me by my profession, and that is, that the 
exercise of the organs of the breast by singing contrib- 
utes very much to defend them from those diseases to 
which the climate and other causes expose them. The 
Germans are seldom afflicted with consumption, noi 
have I ever known but one instance of spitting blood 
among them. This, I believe, is in part occasioned by 
the strength which their lungs acquire by exercising 
them frequently in vocal music, for this constitutes an 
essential branch of their education. The music-master 
of our academy has furnished me with an observation 
still more in favor of this opinion. He informed me 
that he had known several instances of persons who 
were strongly disposed to consumption, who were re- 
stored to health by the exercise of their lungs in sing- 
ing.'"* 

Bathing or ablution, when conducted as recommend- 
ed on pages 60 and 61, is not only a means of cleanli- 
ness and of exciting a healthy action in the skin, but it 
constitutes, at the same time, a most admirable exercise. 

* Mr. Woodbridge's lecture before the American Institute of Instruc- 
tion, 1830. 



THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 81 

If a lodging-room has been properly ventilated by leav- 
ing open windows, or otherwise, so that the air is pure 
and healthful in the morning, ten or fifteen minutes 
spent in bathing and friction, with a proper exercise 
of the muscles of the back and abdomen, will contrib- 
ute more to invigorate the system and promote the gen- 
eral health than twice the amount of exercise taken at 
any other time or in any other way. 

From the foregoing remarks, it appears that the most 
perfect of all exercises are those which combine the 
free play of all the muscles of the body, mental interest 
and excitement, and the unrestrained use of the voice. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE LAWS OF HEALTH. PHILOSOPHY OF RESPIRATION. 

We instinctively shun approach to the dirty, the squalid, and the 
diseased, and use no garment that may have been worn by another. 
We open sewers for matters that offend the sight or the smell, and 
contaminate the air. We carefully remove impurities from what wo 
eat and drink, filter turbid water, and fastidiously avoid drinking from 
a cup that may have been pressed to the lips of a friend. On the other 
hand, we resort to places of assembly, and draw into our mouths air 
loaded with effluvia from the lungs, skiu, and clothing of every indi- 
vidual in the promiscuous crowd — exhalations offensive, to a certain 
extent, from the most healthy individuals ; but when arising from a 
living mass of skin and lungs in all stages of evaporation, disease, and 
putridity, they are in the highest degree deleterious and loathsome. — 

BlRNAN. 

Respiration is usually denned as the process by 
which air is taken into the lungs and expelled from 
them. It explains the changes that take place in these 
organs, in the conversion of chyle and venous, or worn- 
out blood, into arterial or nutrient blood. In order to 
be clearly understood, I must premise a few observa- 

D2 



82 THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 

tions on the circulation of the blood.* The blood cir- 
culating through the body is of two different kinds; the 
one red or arterial, and the other dark or venous blood. 
The former alone is capable of affording nourishment 
and supporting life. It is distributed from the left side 
of the heart all over the body by means of a great 
artery, which subdivides in its course, and ultimately 
terminates in myriads of very minute ramifications 
closely interwoven with, and in reality constituting a 
part of, the texture of every living part. On reaching 
this extreme point of its course, the blood passes into 
equally minute ramifications of the veins, which in their 
turn gradually coalesce, and form larger and larger 
trunks, till they at last terminate in two large veins, by 
which the whole current of the venous blood is brought 
back in a direction contrary to that of the blood in the 
arteries, and poured into the right side of the heart. 
On examining the quality of the blood in the arteries 
and veins, it is found to have undergone a great change 
in its passage from the one to the other. The florid 
hue which distinguished it in the arteries has disap- 
peared, and given place to the dark color character- 
istic of venous blood. Its properties, too, have changed, 
and it is now no longer capable of sustaining life. 

Two conditions are essential to the reconversion of 
venous into arterial blood, and to the restoration of its 
vital properties. The first is an adequate provision of 
new materials from the food to supply the place of 
those which have been expended in nutrition, and the 
second is the free exposure of the venous blood to the 
atmospheric air. The first condition is fulfilled by the 
chyle, or nutrient portion of the food, being regularly 
poured into the venous blood just before it reaches the 
right side of the heart, and the second by the import- 

* Taken, with slight alterations, from the description of Dr. A. Combe. 



PHILOSOPHY OF RESPIRATION. 83 

ant process of respiration, which takes place in the air- 
cells of the lungs. The venous blood, having arrived 
at the right side of the heart, is propelled by the con- 
traction of that organ into a large artery, leading di- 
rectly, by separate branches, to the two lungs, and 
hence called the pulmonary artery. In the innumera- 
ble branches of this artery expanding themselves 
throughout the substance of the lungs, the dark blood 
is subjected to the contact of the air inhaled in breath- 
ing, and a change in the composition both of the blood 
and of the inhaled air takes place, in consequence of 
which the former is found to have reassumed its florid 
or arterial hue, and to have regained its power of sup- 
porting life. The blood then enters minute venous 
ramifications, which gradually coalesce into larger 
branches, and at last terminate in four large trunks in 
the left side of the heart, whence the blood, in its arterial 
form, is again distributed over the body, to pursue the 
same course and undergo the same change as before. 

It will be perceived that there are two distinct cir- 
culations, each of which is carried on by its own sys- 
tem of vessels. The one is from the left side of the 
heart to every part of the body, and back to the right 
side of the heart. The other is from the right side of 
the heart to the ^ lungs, and back to the left side of the 
heart. The former has for its object nutrition and the 
maintenance of life; and the latter, the restoration of 
the deteriorated blood, and the animalization or assimi- 
lation of the chyle from which the blood is formed. 
This process has already been referred to as the com- 
pletion of digestion ; for chyle is not fitted to nourish 
the system until, by its exposure to the atmospheric 
air in the lungs, it is converted into arterial blood. 

As the food can not become a part of the living ani- 
mal, or the venous blood regain its lost properties un- 



84 THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 

til they have undergone the requisite changes in the 
air-cells of the lungs, the function of respiration by 
which these are effected is one of pre-eminent import- 
ance in the animal economy, and well deserves the 
most careful examination. The term respiration is 
frequently restricted to the mere inhalation and expira- 
tion of air from the lungs, but more generally it is em- 
ployed to designate the whole series of phenomena 
which occur in these organs. The term sanguifica- 
tion is occasionally used to denote that part of the pro- 
cess in which the blood, by exposure to the action of 
the air, passes from the venous to the arterial state. 
As the chyle does not become assimilated to the blood 
until it has passed through the lungs, this term, which 
signifies blood-making, is not unaptly used. 

The quantity and quality of the blood have a most 
direct and material influence upon the condition of 
every part of the body. If the quantity sent to the arm, 
for example, be diminished by tying the artery through 
which it is conveyed, the arm, being then imperfectly 
nourished, wastes away, and does not regain its plump- 
ness till the full supply of blood be restored. In like 
manner, when the quality of that fluid is impaired by 
deficiency of food, bad digestion, impure air, or imper- 
fect sanguification in the lungs, the body and all its 
functions become more or less disordered. Thus, in 
consumption, death takes place chiefly in consequence 
of respiration not being sufficiently perfect to admit of 
the formation of proper blood in the lungs. A knowl- 
edge of the structure and functions of the lungs, and of 
the conditions favorable to their healthy action, is there- 
fore very important, for on their welfare depends that 
of every organ of the body. 

The exposure of the blood to the action of the air 
seems to be indispensable to every variety of animated 



PHILOSOPHY OF RESPIRATION. 85 

creatures. In man and the more perfect of the lower 
animals, it is carried on in the lungs, the structure of 
which is admirably adapted for the purpose. In many 
animals, however, the requisite action is effected with- 
out the intervention of lungs. In fishes, for example, 
that live in water and do not breathe, the blood circu- 
lates through the gills, and in them is exposed to the 
air which the water contains. So necessary is the at- 
mospheric air to the vitality of the blood in all animals, 
that the want of it inevitably proves fatal. A fish can 
no more live in water deprived of air, than a man could 
in an atmosphere devoid of oxygen, which is the ele- 
ment that unites with the blood in the lungs in sangui- 
fication. 

In man the lungs are those large, light, spongy bodies 
which, along with the heart, completely fill up the cav- 
ity of the chest. They vary much in size in different 
persons ; and as the chest is formed for their protection, 
it is either large and capacious, or the reverse, accord- 
ing to the size of the lungs. 

The substance of the lungs consists of bronchial tubes, 
air-cells, blood-vessels, nerves, and cellular membrane. 
The bronchial tubes are merely continuations and sub- 
divisions of the windpipe, and serve to convey the ex- 
ternal air to the air-cells of the lungs. The air-cells 
constitute the chief part of the lungs, and are the term- 
ination of the smaller branches of the bronchial tubes. 
When fully distended, they are so numerous as in ap- 
pearance to constitute almost the whole lung. They 
are of various sizes, from the twentieth to the hundredth 
of an inch in diameter, and are lined with an exceed- 
ingly fine, thin membrane, on which the minute capil- 
lary branches of the pulmonary arteries and veins are 
copiously ramified. It is while circulating in the small 
vessels of this membrane, and there exposed to the air, 



86 THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 

that the blood undergoes the change from the venous 
to the arterial state. So numerous are these air-cells, 
that the aggregate extent of their lining membrane in 
man has been computed to exceed twenty thousand 
square inches, or about ten times the surface of the hu- 
man body. Some writers place the estimate consid- 
erably higher. 

A copious exhalation of moisture takes place in 
breathing, which presents a striking analogy to the ex- 
halation from the surface of the skin already described. 
In the former as in the latter instance, the exhalation 
is carried on by the innumerable minute capillary ves- 
sels in which the small arterial branches terminate in 
the air-cells. Pulmonary exhalation is, in fact, one of 
the chief outlets of waste matter from the system ; and 
the air we breathe is thus vitiated, not only by the sub- 
traction of its oxygen and the addition of carbonic acid 
gas, but also by animal effluvia, with which it is loaded 
when returned from the lungs. In some individuals 
this last source of impurity is so great as to render 
their vicinity offensive, and even insupportable. It is 
this which gives the disagreeable, sickening smell to 
crowded rooms. The air which is expired from the 
lungs is rendered offensive by various other causes. 
When spirituous liquors are taken into the stomach, for 
example, they are absorbed by the veins and mixed 
with the venous blood, in which they are carried to the 
lungs to be expelled from the body. In some instances, 
when persons have drank copiously of spirits, their 
breath has been so saturated with them as actually to 
take fire and burn. An instance of this kind has re- 
cently been communicated to me by several reliable 
witnesses, in which the flame was extinguished by clos- 
ing the mouth and nose, thus excluding the pure air 
that supported the combustion, until the unfortunate ex- 



PHILOSOPHY OF RESPIRATION. 87 

perimenter could remove the candle by which his breath 
had taken fire. This illustration will explain how the 
odor of different substances is frequently perceptible in 
the breath long after the mouth is free from them. 

The lungs not only exhale waste matter, but absorp- 
tion takes place from their lining membrane. In both 
of these respects there is a striking analogy between 
the functions performed by the lungs and the skin. 
When a person breathes an atmosphere loaded with 
the fumes of spirits, tobacco, turpentine, or of any other 
volatile substance, a portion of the fumes is taken up by 
the absorbing vessels of the lungs, and carried into the 
system, and there produces precisely the same effects 
as if introduced into the stomach. Dogs, for example, 
have been killed by being made to inhale the fumes of 
prussic acid for a few minutes. The lungs thus be- 
come a ready inlet to contagion, miasmata, and other 
poisonous influences diffused through the air we breathe. 

From this general explanation of the structure and 
uses of the lungs, it- is obvious that several conditions 
which it is our interest to know and observe are essen- 
tial to the healthy performance of the important func- 
tion of respiration. The first among these is a healthy 
original formation of the lungs. No fact in medicine 
is better established, says Dr. Combe, than that which 
proves the hereditary transmission, from parents to 
children, of a constitutional liability to pulmonary dis- 
ease, and especially to consumption ; yet, continues he, 
no condition is less attended to in forming matrimonial 
engagements. 

Another requisite to the well-being of the lungs, and 
to the free and salutary exercise of respiration, is a due 
supply of rich and healthy blood. When, from defect- 
ive food or impaired digestion, the blood is impoverish- 
ed in quality, and rendered unfit for adequate nutrition, 



88 THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 

the lungs speedily suffer, and that often to a fatal ex- 
tent. The free and easy expansion of the chest is also 
indispensable to the full play and dilation of the lungs. 
Whatever interferes with or impedes it, either in dress 
or in position, is obviously prejudicial to health. On 
the other hand, whatever favors the free expansion of 
the chest equally promotes the healthy action of the 
respiratory organs. Stays and corsets, and tight vests 
and waistbands, operate most injuriously, compressing 
as they do the thoracic cavity, and interfering with the 
healthy dilation of the lungs. 

The admirable harmony established by the Creator 
between the various constituent parts of the animal 
frame, renders it impossible to pay regard to the con- 
ditions required for the health of any one, or to infringe 
the conditions required therefor, without all the rest 
participating in the benefit or injury. Thus, while 
cheerful exercise in the open air and in the society of 
equals is directly and eminently conducive to the well- 
being of the muscular system, the advantage does not 
stop there, the beneficent Creator having kindly so or- 
dered it that the same exercise shall be scarcely less 
advantageous to the important function of respiration. 
Active exercise calls the lungs into play, favors their 
expansion, promotes the circulation of the blood through 
their substance, and leads to their complete and healthy 
development. The same end is greatly facilitated by 
that free and vigorous exercise of the voice, which so 
uniformly accompanies and enlivens the sports of the 
young, and which doubles the benefits derived from 
them considered as exercise. The excitement of the 
social and moral feelings which children experience 
while engaged in play is another powerful tonic, the 
influence of which on the general health ought not to 
be overlooked ; for the nervous influence is as indis- 



PHILOSOPHY OF RESPIRATION. 89 

pensable to the right performance of respiration as it is 
to the action of the muscles or to the digestion of food. 

The regular supply of pure fresh air is another es- 
sential condition of healthy respiration, without which 
the requisite changes in the constitution of the blood, 
as it passes through the lungs, can not be effected. To 
enable the reader to appreciate this condition, it is nec- 
essary to consider the nature of the changes alluded to. 

It is ascertained by analysis that the air we breathe 
is composed chiefly of the two gases nitrogen and ox- 
ygen, united in the ratio of four to one by volume, with 
exceedingly small and variable quantities of carbonic 
acid and aqueous vapor. No other mixture of these, 
or of any other gases, will sustain healthy respiration. 
To be more specific — atmospheric air consists of about 
seventy-eight per cent, of nitrogen, twenty-one per cent, 
of oxygen, and not quite one per cent, of carbonic acid. 
Such is its constitution when taken into the lungs in the 
act of breathing. When it is expelled from them, how- 
ever, its composition is found to be greatly altered. 
The quantity of nitrogen remains nearly the same, but 
eight or eight and a half per cent, of the oxgyen or 
vital air have disappeared, and been replaced by an 
equal amount of carbonic acid. In addition to these 
changes, the expired air is loaded with moisture. Si- 
multaneously with these occurrences, the blood collect- 
ed from the veins, which enters the lungs of a dark 
color and unfit for the support of life, assumes a florid 
hue and acquires the power of supporting life. 

Physiologists are not fully agreed in explaining the 
processes by which these changes are effected in the 
lungs. All, however, agree that the change of the blood 
in the lungs is essentially dependent on the supply of 
oxygen contained in the air we breathe, and that air is 
fit or unfit for respiration in exact proportion as its 



90 THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 

quantity of oxygen approaches to, or differs from, that 
contained in pure air. If we attempt to breathe nitro- 
geiij hydrogen, or any other gas that does not contain 
oxygen, the result will be speedy suffocation. If, on 
the other hand, we breathe air containing too great a 
proportion of oxygen, the vital powers will speedily 
suffer from excess of stimulus. 

The chief chemical properties of the atmosphere are 
owing to the presence of oxygen. Nitrogen, which 
constitutes about four fifths of its volume, has been sup- 
posed to act as a mere diluent to the oxygen. Increase 
the proportion of oxygen in the atmosphere, and, as 
already stated, the vital powers w T ill speedily suffer 
from excess of stimulus, the circulation and respiration 
become too rapid, and the system generally becomes 
highly excited. Diminish the proportion of oxygen, 
and the circulation and respiration become too slow, 
weakness and lassitude ensue, and a sense of heaviness 
and uneasiness pervades the entire system. As has 
been observed, air loses during each respiration a por- 
tion of its oxygen, and gains an equal quantity oUcar- 
bonic acid, which is an active poison. When mixed 
with atmospheric air in the ratio of one to four, it ex- 
tinguishes animal life. It is this gas that is produced 
by burning charcoal in a confined portion of common 
air. Its effect upon the system is well known to every 
reader of our newspapers. It causes dimness of sight, 
weakness, dullness, a difficulty of breathing, and ulti- 
mately apoplexy and death* 

* Since the text was prepared for the press, I have noticed from the 
Syracuse (New York) Journal of January 3d, 1850, mention of the death 
of General Rensselaer Van Rensselaer, of that city, from breathing " the 
fumes of charcoal" burned in a " portable furnace." This, it should be 
remembered, is but one of the many instances that are constantly oc- 
curring all over our country, in which immediate death is the result of 
breathing this destructive agent. 



PHILOSOPHY OF RESPIRATION. 91 

Respiration produces the same effect upon air that 
the burning of charcoal does. It converts its oxygen, 
which is the aliment of animal life, into carbonic acid, 
which, be it remembered, is an active poison. Says 
Dr. Turner, in his celebrated work on chemistry, "An 
animal can not live in air which is unable to support 
combustion." Says the same author again, " An ani- 
mal can not live in air which contains sufficient car- 
bonic acid for extinguishing a candle." It will pres- 
ently be seen why these quotations are made. 

It is stated in several medical works that the quan- 
tity of air that enters the lungs at each inspiration of 
an adult varies from thirty-two to forty cubic inches. 
To establish more definitely some data upon which 
a calculation might safely be based, I some years ago 
conducted an experiment whereby I ascertained the 
medium quantity of air that entered the lungs of myself 
and four young men was thirty-six cubic inches, and 
that respiration is repeated once in three seconds, or 
twenty times a minute. I also ascertained that respired 
air will not support combustion. This truth, taken in 
connection with the quotations just made, establishes 
another and a more important truth, viz., that air once 

RESPIRED WILL NOT FURTHER SUSTAIN ANIMAL LIFE. 

That part of the experiment by which it was ascer- 
tained that respired air will not support combustion is 
very simple, and I here give it with the hope that it 
may be tried at least in every school-house, if not in 
every family of our wide-spread country. It was con- 
ducted as follows : 

I introduced a lighted taper into an inverted receiver 
(glass jar) which contained seven quarts of atmospheric 
air, and placed the mouth of the receiver into a vessel 
of water. The taper burned with its wonted brilliancy 
about a minute, and, growing dim gradually, became 



92 THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 

extinct at the expiration of three minutes. I then filled 
the receiver with water, and inverting it, placed its 
mouth beneath the surface of the same fluid in another 
vessel. I next removed the water from the receiver 
by breathing into it. This was done by filling the lungs 
with air, which, after being retained a short time in the 
chest, was exhaled through a siphon (a bent lead tube) 
into the receiver. I then introduced the lighted taper 
into the receiver of respired air, by which it was im- 
mediately extinguished. Several persons present then 
received a quantity of respired air into their lungs, 
whereupon the premonitory symptoms of apoplexy, as 
already given, ensued. The experiment was conduct- 
ed with great care, and several times repeated in the 
presence of respectable members of the medical pro- 
fession, a professor of chemistry, and several literary 
gentlemen, to their entire satisfaction. 

Before proceeding further, I will make a practical ap- 
plication of the principles already established. Within 
the last ten years I have visited half of the states of the 
Union for the purpose of becoming acquainted wi^li the 
actual condition of our common schools. I have there- 
fore noticed especially the condition of school-houses. 
Although there is a great variety in their dimensions, 
yet there are comparatively few school-houses less than 
sixteen by eighteen feet on the ground, and fewer still 
larger than twenty-four by thirty feet, exclusive of our 
principal cities and villages. From a large number of 
actual measurements, not only in New York and Mich- 
igan, but east of the Hudson River and west of the 
great lakes, I conclude that, exclusive of entry and 
closets, when they are furnished wijh these append- 
ages, school-houses are not usually larger than twenty 
by twenty-four feet on the ground, and seven feet in 
height. They are, indeed, more frequently smallei' 



PHILOSOPHY OF RESPIRATION. * 93 

than larger. School-houses of these dimensions have 
a capacity of 3360 cubic feet, and are usually occupied 
by at least forty-five scholars in the winter season. 
Not unfrequently sixty or seventy, and occasionally 
more than a hundred scholars occupy a room of this 
size. 

A simple arithmetical computation will abundantly 
satisfy any person who is acquainted with the compo- 
sition of the atmosphere, the influence of respiration 
upon its fitness to sustain animal life, and the quantity 
of air that enters the lungs attach inspiration, that a 
school-room of the preceding dimensions contains quite 
too little air to sustain the healthy respiration of even 
forty-five scholars three hours — the usual length of each 
session ; and frequently the school -house is imperfectly 
ventilated between the sessions at noon, and sometimes 
for several days together. 

Mark the following particulars: 1. The quantity of 
air breathed by forty-five persons in three hours, ac- 
cording to the data just given, is 3375 cubic feet. 2. 
Air once respired will not sustain animal life. 3. The 
school-room was estimated to possess a capacity of 
3360 cubic feet — -fifteen feet less than is necessary to 
sustain healthy respiration. 4. Were forty-five persons 
whose lungs possess the estimated capacity placed in 
an air-tight room of the preceding dimensions, and 
could they breathe pure air till it was all once respired, 
and then enter upon its second respiration, they would 
all die with the apoplexy before the expiration of a three 
hours' session. 

From the nature of the case, these conditions can not 
conveniently be fulfilled. But numerous instances of 
fearful approximation exist. We have no air-tight 
houses. But in our latitude, comfort requires that 
rooms which are to be occupied by children in the 



94 » THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 

winter season, be made very close. The dimensions 
of rooms are, moreover, frequently narrowed, that the 
warm breath may lessen the amount of fuel necessary 
to preserve a comfortable temperature. It is true, on 
the other hand, that the quantity of air which children 
breathe is somewhat less than I have estimated. But 
the derangement resulting from breathing impure air, 
in their case, is greater than in the case of adults whose 
constitutions are matured, and who are hence less sus- 
ceptible of injury. It is also true in many schools that 
the number occupying^ room of the dimensions sup- 
posed is considerably greater than I have estimated. 
Moreover, in many instances, a great proportion of the 
larger scholars will respire the estimated quantity of air. 

Again, all the air in a room is not respired once be- 
fore a portion of it is breathed the second, or even the 
third and fourth time. The atmosphere is not sudden- 
ly changed from purity to impurity — from a healthful 
to an infectious state. Were it so, the change, being 
more perceptible, would be seen and felt too, and a 
remedy would be sought and applied. But because the 
change is gradual, it is not the less fearful in its conse- 
quences. In a room occupied by forty-five persons, 
the first minute, thirty -two thousand four hundred 
cubic inches of air impart their entire vitality to sustain 
animal life, and, mingling with the atmosphere of the 
room, proportionately deteriorate the whole mass. Thus 
are abundantly sown in early life the fruitful seeds of 
disease and premature death. 

This detail shows conclusively sufficient cause for 
that uneasy, listless state of feeling which is so preva- 
lent in crowded school-rooms. It explains why chil- 
dren that are amiable at home are mischievous in 
school, and why those that are troublesome at home 
are frequently well-nigh uncontrollable in school. It 



PHILOSOPHY OF RESPIRATION. 95 

discloses the true cause why so many teachers who 
are justly considered both pleasant and amiable in the 
ordinary domestic and social relations, are obnoxious 
in the school-room, being there habitually sour and 
fretful. The ever-active children are disqualified for 
study, and engage in mischief as their only alternative. 
On the other hand, the irritable teacher, who can hard- 
ly look with complaisance upon good behavior, is dis- 
posed to magnify the most trifling departure from the 
rules of propriety. The scholars are continually be- 
coming more ungovernable, and the teacher more un- 
fit to govern them. Week after week they become 
less and less attached to him, and he, in turn, becomes 
less interested in them. 

This detail explains, also, why so many children are 
unable to attend school at all, or become unwell so soon 
after commencing to attend, when their health is suffi- 
cient to engage in other pursuits. The number of 
scholars answering this description is greater than most 
persons are aware of. In one district that I visited a 
few years ago in the State of New York, it was ac- 
knowledged by competent judges to be emphatically 
true in the case of not less than twenty-five scholars. 
Indeed, in that same district, the health of more than 
one hundred scholars was materially injured every 
year in consequence of occupying an old and partially- 
decayed house, of too narrow dimensions, with very 
limited facilities for ventilation. The evil, even after 
the cause was made known, was suffered to exist for 
years, although the district was worth more than three 
hundred thousand dollars. And what was true* of this 
school, is now, with a few variations, true in the case 

* In the district referred to there has since been erected a large and 
commodious union school house, which constitutes at once the pride 
and ornament of a beautiful and flourishing village. 



90 THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 

of scores, if not hundreds of schools with which I am 
acquainted, from far-famed New England to the Valley 
of the Mississippi. 

This detail likewise explains why the business of 
teaching has acquired, and justly too, the reputation of 
being unhealthy. There is, however, no reason why 
the health of either teacher or pupils should sooner fail 
in a well-regulated school, taught in a house properly 
constructed, and suitably warmed and ventilated, than 
in almost any other business. If this statement were 
not true, an unanswerable argument might be framed 
against the very existence of schools ; and it might 
clearly be shown that it is policy, nay, duty, to close at 
once and forever the four thousand school-houses of 
Michigan, and the hundred thousand of the nation, and 
leave the rising generation to perish for lack of knowl- 
edge. But our condition in this respect is not hope- 
less. The evil in question may be effectually remedied 
by enlarging the house, or, which is easier, cheaper, and 
more effectual, by frequent and thorough ventilation. 
It would be well, however, to unite the two methods. 

. In the winter of 1841-2, I visited a school in which 
the magnitude of the evil under consideration was clear- 
ly developed. Five of the citizens of the district at- 
tended me in my visit to the school. We arrived at the 
school-house about the middle of the afternoon. It was 
a close, new house, eighteen by twenty-four feet on the 
ground — two feet less in one of its dimensions than the 
house concerning which the preceding calculation is 
made. There were present forty-three scholars, the 
teacher, five patrons, and myself, making fifty in all. 
Immediately after entering the school-house, one of the 
trustees remarked to me, " I believe our school-house 
is too tight to be healthy." I made no reply, but se- 
cretly resolved that I would sacrifice my comfort for 



PHILOSOPHY OF RESPIRATION. 97 

the remainder of the afternoon, and hazard my health, 
and my life even, to test the accuracy of the opinions 
I had entertained on this important subject. I marked 
the uneasiness and dullness of all present, and espe- 
cially of the patrons, who had been accustomed to 
breathe a purer atmosphere. School continued an 
hour and a half, at the close of which I was invited to 
make some remarks. I arose to do so, but was unable 
to proceed till I opened the outer door, and snuffed a 
few times the purer air without. When I had partial- 
ly recovered my wonted vigor, I observed with delight 
the renovating influence of the current of air that en- 
tered the door, mingling with and gradually displacing 
the fluid poison that filled, the room, and was about to 
do the work of death. It seemed as though I was 
standing at the mouth of a huge sepulcher, in which 
the dead were being restored to life. After a short 
pause, I proceeded with a few remarks, chiefly, how- 
ever, on the subject of respiration and ventilation. 
The trustees, who had just tested their accuracy and 
bearing upon their comfort and health, resolved imme- 
diately to provide for ventilation according to the sug- 
gestions in the article on school-houses in the last 
chapter of this work. 

Before leaving the house on that occasion, I was in- 
formed an evening meeting had been attended there 
the preceding week, which they were obliged to dis- 
miss before the ordinary exercises were concluded, 
because, as they said, " We all got sick, and the can- 
dles went almost out." Little did they realize, proba- 
bly, that the light of life became just as nearly extinct 
as did the candles. Had they remained there a little 
longer, both would have gone out together, and there 
would have been reacted the memorable tragedy of 
the Black Hole in Calcutta, into which were thrust a 

E 



93 THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 

garrison of one hundred and forty-six persons, one 
hundred and twenty-three of whom perished misera- 
bly in a few hours, being suffocated by the confined air. 

What has been said in the preceding pages on the 
philosophy of respiration was first given to the public 
nearly ten years ago, in a report of the author's in the 
State of New York. He has since seen the same sen- 
timents inculcated by many of our most eminent prac- 
tical educators, some of whom had written upon the 
subject at an earlier date. Allen and Pepy showed 
by experiment that air which has been once breathed 
contains eight and a half per cent, of carbonic acid, 
and that no continuance of the respiration of the same 
air could make it take up more than ten per cent. 
Air, then, when once respired, has taken up more than 
four fifths of the amount of this noxious gas that it can 
be made to by any number of breathings. 

Dr. Clark, in his work on Consumption, remarks as 
follows : " Were I to select two circumstances which 
influence the health, especially during the growth of 
the body, more than others, and concerning which the 
public, ignorant at present, ought to be well informed, 
they would be the proper adaptation of food to differ- 
ence of age and constitution, and the constant supply 
of pure air for respiration." Dr. William A. Alcott, 
who has given especial attention to this subject, after 
quoting the preceding remark of Dr. Clark, adds: "We 
believe this is the opinion of all medical men who have 
studied the constitution of man, and its relation to out- 
ward objects." 

A distinguished surgeon* of Leeds, England, goes 
somewhat further in praising pure air than most of his 
contemporaries. " Be it remembered," says he, " that 

* Dr. Thackrah, author of a most valuable work on the " Effects of 
Employments on the Health and Longevity of Mankind." 



PHILOSOPHY OF RESPIRATION. 99 

man subsists more upon air than upon his food and 
drink." There is some novelty in this remark, I ad- 
mit ; but is it not truthful ? Men have been known to 
live three weeks without eating. But exclude the at- 
mospheric air from the lungs for the space of three 
minutes, and death generally ensues. We thus see 
that life will continue with abstinence from food three 
thousand times as long as it is safe to protract an at- 
mospheric fast. 

Let us take another view of the subject. Men usual- 
ly eat three times in twenty-four hours. This is all 
that is necessary to, or compatible with, the enjoyment 
of uninterrupted good health. But we involuntarily 
breathe nearly thii^ty thousand times in the same length 
of time. We need, then, fresh supplies of pure air ten 
thousand times as often as it is necessary to partake of 
meals. Is it not apparent, then, that man subsists more 
upon air than upon his food and drink ? 

The atmosphere which we so frequently inhale, and 
upon which our well-being so much depends, surrounds 
the earth to the height of about forty-five miles. The 
surface of the earth contains about two hundred mill- 
ions of square miles, and it is estimated that there dwell 
upon it eight hundred millions of inhabitants. This 
gives to each individual about eleven cubic miles of air. 
But the air is breathed by the inferior animals as well 
as by man. It is also rendered impure by combustion. 
If by both of these causes ten times as much air is con- 
sumed as by man, there is still left one cubic mile of 
uncontaminated atmospheric air to every human being 
dwelling upon the surface of the earth. This would 
allow him to live more than twice the age allotted to 
man, without breathing any portion of the atmosphere 
a second time. And still, as if to avoid the possibility 
of evil to man on this account, the beneficent Creator 



100 THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 

has wisely so ordered, that while we do. not interfere 
with the laws of Nature, there is not even the possi- 
bility of rebreathing respired air until it has been puri- 
fied and restored to its natural and healthful state ; for 
carbonic acid, the vitiating product of respiration, al- 
though immediately fatal to animals, constitutes the 
very life of vegetation. When brought in contact with 
the upper surface of the green leaves of trees and plants, 
and acted upon by the direct solar rays, this gas is de- 
composed, and its carbon is absorbed to sustain, in part, 
the life of the plant, by affording it one element of its 
food, while the oxygen is liberated and restored to the 
atmosphere. Vegetables and animals are thus perpet- 
ually interchanging kindly offices, and each flourishes 
upon that which is fatal to the other. It is in this way 
that the healthful state of the atmosphere is kept up. 
Its equilibrium seems never to be disturbed, or, if dis- 
turbed at all, it is immediately restored by the mutual 
exchange of poison for aliment, which is constantly go- 
ing on between the animal and vegetable worlds. This 
interchange of kindly offices is constantly going on all 
over the earth, even in the highest latitudes, and in the 
very depths of winter; for air which has been respired is 
rarefied, and, when thrown from the lungs, ascends, and 
is thus not only out of our reach, whereby we are pro- 
tected from respiring it a second time, but this (to us) 
deadly poison falls into the great aerial current which 
is constantly flowing from the polar to the tropical re- 
gions, where it is converted into vegetable growth. 
The oxygen which is exhaled in the processes of trop- 
ical vegetation, heated and rarefied by the vertical 
rays of the sun, mounts to the upper regions of the at- 
mosphere, and, falling into a returning current, in its 
appointed time revisits the higher latitudes. So wise- 
ly has the Divine Author ordered these processes, that 



PHILOSOPHY OF RESPIRATION. 101 

air, in its natural state* in any part of the world, does 
not contain more than one half of one per cent, of car- 
bonic acid gas, although, as already stated, air which 
has been once respired contains eight and a half per 
cent, of this gas, which is at least seventeen times its 
natural quantity. 

There are other agencies than carbonic acid gas 
which in civic life render the atmosphere impure. Of 
this nature is carbureted hydrogen gas, which is pro- 
duced in various ways. This, says Dr. Comstock, is 
immediately destructive to animal life, and will not sup- 
port combustion. It exists in stagnant water, especi- 
ally in warm weather, and is generated by the decom- 
position of vegetable products. Dr. Arnott expresses 
the conviction that the immediate and chief cause of 
many of the diseases which impair the bodily and men- 
tal health of the people, and bring a considerable por- 
tion prematurely to the grave, is the poison of atmos- 
pheric impurity, arising from the accumulation in and 
around their dwellings of the decomposing remnants 
of the substances used for food and in their arts, and of 
the impurities given out from their own bodies. If you 
allow the sources of aerial impurity to exist in or around 
dwellings, he continues, you are poisoning the people ; 
and while many die at early ages of fevers and other 
acute diseases, the remainder will have their health im- 
paired and their lives shortened. 

There are many instances on record where the prog- 
ress of an epidemic has been speedily arrested by ven- 
tilation. A striking instance is given by the writer last 
quoted. '* When I visited Glasgow with Mr. Chad- 
wick," says he, " there was described to us one vast 

* It would be difficult to say whether carbonic acid gas is in the at- 
mosphere constitutionally, or accidentally, or both. — Dr. Wm. A. Alcotfs 
Health Tracts. 



102 THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 

lodging-house, in connection with a manufactory there, 
in which formerly fever constantly prevailed, but where, 
by making an opening from the top of each room through 
a channel of communication to an air-pump common 
to all the channels, the disease had disappeared alto- 
gether. The supply of pure air obtained by that mode 
of ventilation was sufficient to dilute the cause of the 
disease, so that it became powerless." 

Sulphureted hydrogen gas is also exceedingly pois- 
onous to the lungs and to every part of the system. 
When pure, this gas is described as instantly fatal to 
animal life. Even when diluted with fifteen hundred 
times its bulk of air, it has been found so poisonous as 
to destroy a bird in a few seconds. " This gas," says 
Dr. Dunglison, in his Elements of Hygiene, "is ex- 
tremely deleterious.* When respired in a pure state 
it kills instantly ; and its deadly agency is rapidly ex- 
erted when put in contact with any of the tissues of 
the body, through which it penetrates with astonishing 
rapidity. Even when mixed with a portion of air, it 
has proved immediately destructive. Dr. Paris refers 
to the case of a chemist of his acquaintance, who was 
suddenly deprived' of sense as he stood over a pneumatic 
trough in which he was collecting this gas. From the 
experiments of Dupuytren and Thenard, air that con- 
tains a thousandth part of sulphureted hydrogen kills 
birds immediately. A dog perished in air containing 
a hundredth part, and a horse in air containing a fiftieth 
part of it." 

The preceding are far from being all the causes of 
atmospheric impurity. Besides these, there are numer- 
ous exhalations, as well as gases, that are poisonous. 

* Sulphureted hydrogen gas is the deleterious agent exhaled from 
privies or vaults, which have been so fatal, at times, to night men, who 
have been employed to remove or cleanse them. — Dr. Dunglison. 



PHILOSOPHY OF RESPIRATION. 103 

Some of these exhalations are more abundant in the 
night, and about the time of the morning and evening 
twilight. " Hence the importance," says a writer on 
health, " to those who are feeble, of avoiding the air at 
all hours except when the sun is considerably above 
the horizon." 

Although the atmosphere, in its natural state, is not 
at all times perfectly pure, still it is comparatively 
so, and especially in the daytime. All, therefore, who 
would retain and improve their health, should inhale 
the open air as much as possible, even though they can 
not, like Franklin's Methusalem,* be always in it. This 
remark is applicable to both sexes, and to every age and 
condition of life. 

The following, from the pen of an American authorf 
who has written much and well on physical education, 
is pertinent to the subject under consideration : " We 
breathe bad air principally as the production of our 
own bodies. Here is the source of a large share of hu- 
man wo ; and to this point must his attention be par- 
ticularly directed who would save himself from dis- 
ease, and promote, in the highest possible degree, his 
health and longevity. We must avoid breathing over 
the carbonic acid gas contained in the tight or unven- 

* Dr. Franklin, in his usual humorous manner, but with his accustom 
ed gravity, relates, in one of his essays, the following anecdote, for the 
purpose, doubtless, of showing the influence of pure air upon health, 
happiness, and longevity. 

" It is recorded of Methusalem, who, being the longest liver, may 
be supposed to have best preserved his health, that he slept always in 
the open air; for when he had lived five hundred years, an angel said 
to him, Arise, Methusalem, and build thee a house, for thou shalt live 
yet five hundred years longer. But Methusalem answered and said, 
If I am to live but five hundred years longer, it is not worth while to 
build me a house. I will sleep in the air as I have been accustomed 
to do." 

t From Dr. William A. Alcott's Tract on Breathing Bad Air. 



104 THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 

tilated rooms in which we labor or remain for a long 
time, whether parlors, school-rooms, counting-rooms, 
bed-rooms, shops, or factories. The individual who 
lives most according to nature — who observes with 
most care the laws of life and health — must necessari- 
ly throw off much carbonic acid from his lungs, if not 
from his skin. It does not follow, however, that be- 
cause this gas is formed we are obliged to inhale it. 
We may change our position, change our clothing, ven- 
tilate our rooms of nil sorts, shake up our bed-clothing 
often and air our bed, and use clean, loose, and porous 
clothing by night and by day. We may thus very effect- 
ually guard against injuries from a very injurious agent, 
"One thing should be remembered in connection 
with this subject which is truly encouraging. The 
more we accustom ourselves to pure air, the more easi 
ly will our lungs and nasal organs detect its presence. 
He who has redeemed his senses and restored his lun^s 
to integrity, like him who has redeemed a conscience 
once deadened, is so alive to every bad impression 
made upon any of these, that he can often detect im- 
purity around or within him, and thus learn to avoid 
it. It will scarcely be possible for such a person long- 
to breathe bad air, or nauseous or unwholesome efflu- 
via, without knowing it, and learning to avoid the 
causes which produce it. Such a person will not neg- 
lect long to remove the impurities which accumulate 
so readily on the surface of his body, or suffer himself 
to use food or drink which induces flatulence, and thus 
exposes either his intestines or his lungs, or the lungs 
of others, to that most extremely poisonous agent, sul- 
phureted hydrogen gas. Nor will he be likely to per- 
mit the accumulation of filth, liquid or solid, around or 
in his dwelling. There are those whose senses will 
detect a very small quantity of stagnant water, or vin- 



PHILOSOPHY OF RESPIRATION. 105 

egar, or other liquids, or fruit, or changed food in the 
house, or even the presence of those semi-putrid sub- 
stances, wine and cider. But some will indeed say- 
that such integrity of the senses would be an annoy* 
ance rather than a blessing. On the same principle, 
however, would a high degree of conscientiousness in 
regard to right and wrong in moral conduct be a curse 
to us. If it be desirable to have our physical sense of 
right and wrong benumbed, it is so to have our moral 
sense benumbed also. Yet what person of sense ei^er 
complained of too tender a conscience, or too perfect a 
sense of right and wrong in morals?" 

Exercise of the Lungs. — Judicious exercise tf the 
lungs, in the opinion of that eminent physiologist, Dr. 
Andrew Combe, is one of the most efficacious means 
which can be employed for promoting their develop- 
ment and warding off their diseases. In this respect 
the organs of respiration closely resemble th</ muscles 
and all other organized parts. They are made to be 
used, and if they are left in habitual inactivity, their 
strength and health are unavoidably impai/ed ; while, 
if their exercise be ill-timed or excessive, disease will 
as certainly follow. 

The lungs may be exercised directly 3y the use of 
the voice in speaking, reading aloud, of singing, and 
indirectly by such kinds of bodily or miicular exertion 
as require quicker and deeper breathing. In general, 
both ought to be conjoined. But wh$'e the chief ob- 
ject is to improve the lungs, those kirds which have a 
tendency to expand the chest and <all the organs of 
respiration into play ought to be especially preferred. 
Rowing a boat, fencing, quoits, shuflecock, the proper 
use of skipping the rope, dumb-b^ls, and gymnastics 
are of this description, and have been recommended 
for this purpose. All of them employ actively the 

E 2 



106 THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 

muscles of the chest and trunk, and excite the lungs 
themselves to freer and fuller expansion. Climbing 
up a hill is, for the same reason, an exercise of high 
utility in giving tone and freedom to the pulmonary 
functions. Where, either from hereditary predisposi- 
tion or accidental causes, the chest is unusually weak, 
every effort should be made, from infancy upward, to 
favor the growth and strength of the lungs, by the ha- 
bitual use of such of these exercises as can most easily 
be practiced. The earlier they are resorted to, and 
the more steadily they are pursued, the more certainly 
will their beneficial results be experienced. 

If >he direct exercise of the lungs in practicing deep 
inspirition, speaking, reading aloud, and singing, is 
propeily managed and persevered in, particularly be- 
fore tht frame has become consolidated, it will exert a 
very beneficial influence in expanding the chest, and 
giving toie and imparting health to the important or- 
gans contained in it. As a preventive measure, Dr. 
Clark, in lis treatise on Consumption and Scrofula, 
recommencs the full expansion of the chest in the fol- 
iowing mamer : " We desire the young person, while 
standing, to throw his arms and shoulders back, and, 
while in this oosition, to inhale slowly as much air as 
he can, and reoeat this exercise at short intervals sev- 
eral times in succession. When this can be done in the 
open air it is mist desirable, a double advantage being 
thus obtained fiom the practice. Some exercise of 
this kind should >e adopted daily by all young persons, 
more especially ly those whose chests are narrow or 
deformed, and sbuld be slowly and gradually in- 
creased." 

In this preventive measure recommended by Dr. 
Clark, some of our Lost eminent physiologists heartily 
concur. They also express the opinion that, for the 



PHILOSOPHY OF RESPIRATION. 10? 

same reason, even the crying and sobbing of children, 
when not caused by disease, contribute to their future 
health. Dr. Combe says, "The loud laugh and noisy 
exclamations attending the sports of the young have 
an evident relation to the same beneficial end, and 
ought, therefore, to be encouraged." But beneficial as 
the direct exercise of the lungs is thus shown to be, in 
expanding and strengthening the chest, its influence 
extends still further, and, as we have already seen, 
contributes greatly to promote the important process 
of digestion. If, therefore, the lungs be rarely called 
into active exercise, not only do they suffer, but an 
important aid to digestion being withdrawn, the stom- 
ach and bowels also become weakened, and indigestion 
and costiveness ensue. 

The exercise of what has not unaptly been called 
Vocal Gymnastics, and the loud and distinct speak- 
ing enforced in many of our schools, not only fortify 
the vocal organs against the attacks of disease, but 
tend greatly to promote the general health. For this 
purpose, also, as well as for its social and moral influ- 
ences, vocal music should be introduced into all our 
schools. That by these and like exercises deep inspi- 
rations and full expirations are encouraged, any one 
may become convinced who will attend to what passes 
in his own body while reading aloud a single paragraph. 

There is danger of exercising the lungs too much 
when disease exists in the chest. At such times, not 
only speaking, reading aloud, and singing, but ordina- 
ry muscular exertion, ought to be refrained from, or be 
regulated by professional advice. When a joint is 
sore or inflamed, we know that motion impedes its re- 
covery. When the eye is affected, we, for a similar 
reason, shut out the light. So, when the stomach is 
disordered, we respect its condition, and are more 



108 THE LAWS OF HEALTH, 

careful about diet. The lungs demand a treatment 
founded on the same general principle. When in- 
flamed, they should be exercised as little as possible. 
All violent exercise ought, therefore, to be refrained 
from during at least the active stages of a cold ; but 
colds may often be entirely prevented at the time of 
exposure by a proper exercise of the lungs. 

In conversing with an eminent physician recently on 
this subject, he expressed the conviction that one of the 
most effectual methods of warding off a cold, when ex- 
posed by wet feet or otherwise, is to take frequent deep 
inhalations of air. Bv this means the carbonic acid, 
which the returning circulation deposits in the lungs, 
is not only more effectually disengaged, but, at the same 
time, the greater amount of oxygen that enters the lungs 
and combines with the blood quickens the circulation, 
and thus, imparting increased vitality to the system, en- 
ables it more effectually to resist any attack that may 
be induced by unusual exposure. 

A late medical writer, who has become quite cele- 
brated in this country for the successful treatment of 
pulmonary consumption,* expresses the opinion that, to 
the consumptive, air is a most excellent medicine, and 
"far more valuable than all other remedies." He thinks 
it " the grand agent in expanding the chest." In urg- 
ing the importance of habitually maintaining an erect 
position, he expresses the conviction that " practice 
will soon make sitting or standing perfectly erect vastly 
more agreeable and less fatiguing than a stooping pos- 
ture." To persons predisposed to consumption, these 
hints, he thinks, are of the greatest importance. While 
walking, he says, " the chest should be carried proudly 
erect and straight, the top of it pointing rather back- 
ward than forward." To illustrate the advantages of 

* S. S. Fitch, M.D., author of " Consumption Cured." 



PHILOSOPHY OF RESPIRATION. 109 

habitually maintaining this position, he refers to the 
North American Indians, who never had consumption, 
and who are remarkable for their perfectly erect pos- 
ture while walking. " Next to this," he adds, " it is of 
vast importance to the consumptive to breathe well. 
He should make a practice of taking long breaths, 
sucking in all the air he can, and holding it in the chest 
as long as possible." He recommends the repetition of 
this a hundred times a day, and especially with those 
who have a slight cold or symptoms of weak lungs. 
When practiced in pure cold air, its advantages are 
most apparent. To increase the benefits resulting from 
this practice, he recommends the use of the "inhaling 
tube." He thinks that inhaling tubes made of silver or 
gold are much better than those made of wood or India- 
rubber. In this opinion I fully concur, for I think with 
him that gold and silver tubes will not so readily "con- 
tract any impure or poisonous matter." But there is 
another and a stronger reason why I prefer silver, and 
especially gold inhaling tubes, to those made of wood 
or India-rubber. They would be more highly prized 

and MORE FREQUENTLY USED. 

The same writer entertains the belief that about one 
third of all the consumptions originate from weakness 
of the abdominal belts. He hence, in such cases, rec- 
ommends the use of the " abdominal supporter." In 
order to favor an erect posture and an open chest, he 
also recommends the use of " shoulder-braces." He 
says the proper use of these, with other remedies, will 
" entirely prevent the possibility of consumption, from 
whatever cause." The inhaling-tube, together with 
the shoulder-braces and supporter when needed, he 
says are perfect preventives, and should not be neg- 
lected ; for if the shoulders are kept off the chest, and 
the abdomen is well supported, and then an inhaling 



110 THE LAWS OF HEALTH. 

tube is faithfully used, " the lungs can never become 
diseased. Any person in this way. who chooses to 
take the trouble, can have a large chest and healthy 
lungs." 

When persons have contracted disease they may 
require these artificial helps; but it should be borne 
in mind that an all-wise and beneficent Creator has 
kindly given to each of his creatures two inhaling 
tubes, admirably adapted to their wants. He has also 
furnished them with a set of abdominal muscles which, 
when properly used, have generally been found to su- 
persede the necessity of artificial "supporters." He 
has, moreover, in the plenitude of his goodness, fur- 
nished each member of the human family with a good 
pair of shoulder-braces. It should also be borne in 
mind that Nature's shoulder-braces improve by use, 
while the artificial ones not only soon fail, but their 
very use generally impairs the healthy action of the 
natural ones ; for these, like all other muscles, improve 
by use and become enfeebled by disuse. Parents and 
teachers, then, and all who have the care of the young, 
should encourage the correct use of Nature's inhaling 
tubes, shoulder-braces, and abdominal supporters ; for 
in this way they have it in their power not only to 
supersede the necessity of resorting to artificial ones 
later in life, but of preventing much of human misery, 
and contributing to the permanent elevation of the 
race. 



INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL EDUCATION. Ill 



CHAPTER V. 

THE NATURE OF INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL EDUCATION. 

In the cultivation and expansion of the faculties of the mind, we act 
altogether upon organized matter — and this, too, of the most delicate 
kind — which, while it serves as the mediator between body and spirit, 
partakes so largely of the nature, character, and essential attributes of the 
former, that, without its proper physical growth and development, all 
the manifestations of the latter sink into comparative insignificance ; so 
that, without a perfect organization of the brain, the mental powers 
must be proportionally paralyzed ; without its maintaining a healthy 
condition, they must be rendered proportionally weak and inactive.* 
— Dr. J. L. Peirce. 

It has already been stated that there exists such an 
intimate connection between physical, intellectual, and 
moral education, that, in order duly to appreciate the 
importance of either, we must not view it separate and 
alone merely, but in connection with both of the others. 
However much value, then, we may attach to physical 
education on its own account, considering man as a 
corporeal being, we shall have occasion greatly to 
magnify its importance as we direct our attention to 
the cultivation and development of his mental faculties. 
We have no means of becoming acquainted with the 
laws which govern independent mind ; but that mind 
separate from body is, from its very nature, all-know- 
ing and intelligent, is an opinion that has obtained to a 
considerable extent. Be this as it may, it does not im- 
mediately concern us in the present state. This much 
we know, that embodied mind acquires knowledge 

* From an Essay upon the Physical and Intellectual Education of 
Children, written by request of the Managers of the Pennsylvania 
Lyceum. 



112 THE NATURE OF 

slowly, and with a degree of perfection depending 
upon the condition of the brain and the bodily organs 
of sense, through the medium of which mind commu- 
nicates with the external world. We do not even 
know whether education modifies the mind itself; and, 
if at all, how it affects it in its disembodied state. Nei- 
ther is it important that we should possess this knowl- 
edge. There is, however, much reason for believing 
that the mind of man in the future state will be perma- 
nently affected by, and enjoy the full benefit of, the pre- 
paratory training it has received in this life ; that then, 
as now, it will be progressive in its attainments ; and that 
the rapidity with which it will then acquire knowledge, 
and the nature of its pursuits, will depend upon the de- 
gree of cultivation, and the habits and character form- 
ed in this life. 

From what we know of the beneficent and all-wise 
Creator, as manifested in his word and works, we have 
abundant reason for believing that our highest and en- 
during good will be best promoted by becoming ac- 
quainted with, and yielding a cheerful obedience to, 
the laws of organic mind. Whatever the effect of 
education upon independent mind may be, we may 
rest well assured that man's everlasting well-being in 
the future state will be most directly and certainly 
reached by a strict conformity to those laws which 
regulate mind in its present mode of being. It should 
be borne in mind, also, that just in proportion as man 
remains ignorant of those laws, or, knowing them, dis- 
regards them, will he fail to secure his best good in 
this life not only, but in that which is to come, to an 
extent corresponding with the influence which educa- 
tion may exert upon independent mind. In order, then, 
most successfully to carry forward the great work of 
intellectual and moral culture, and to secure to man the 



INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL EDUCATION. 113 

fullest benefits of education in the present life, and in 
that higher mode of being which awaits him in the fu- 
ture, we have only to acquaint him with the laws by 
which embodied mind is governed, and to induce him 
to yield a ready, cheerful, and uniform obedience to 
those laws. We shall therefore devote the following 
pages to an inquiry into the laws which must be ob- 
served by embodied mind in order to render it the 
fittest possible instrument for discovering, applying, 
and obeying the laws under which God has placed the 
universe, which constitutes the one great object of edu- 
cation, when considered in its widest and true sense. 

All physiologists and philosophers regard the brain 
as the organ of the mind. Although it is not befitting 
here to give a particular description of this complicated 
organ, still it may be well further to premise that, by 
nearly universal consent, it is regarded as the imme- 
diate seat of the intellectual faculties not only, but of 
the passions and moral feelings of our nature, as well 
as of consciousness and every other mental act. It is 
also well established that the brain is the principal 
source of that nervous influence which is essential to 
vitality, and to the action of each and all of our bodily 
organs. As, then, its functions are the highest and 
most important in the animal economy, it becomes an 
object of paramount importance in education to dis- 
cover the laws by which they are regulated, that by 
yielding obedience to them we may avoid the evils 
consequent on their violation. 

Let no one suppose these evils are few or small ; 
for, in the language of an eloquent writer, " the system 
of education which is generally pursued in the United 
States is unphilosophical in its elementary principles, 
ill adapted to the condition of man, practically mocks 
his necessities, and is intrinsically absurd. The high 



114 THE NATURE OF 

excellences of the present system, in other respects, 
are fully appreciated. Modern education has indeed 
achieved wonders. It has substituted things for names, 
experiment for hypothesis, first principles for arbitrary 
rules. It has simplified processes, stripped knowledge 
of its abstraction and thrown it into visibility, made 
practical results rather than mystery the standard by 
which to measure the value of attainment, and facts 
rather than conjecture its circulating medium.'** 

A sound original constitution may be regarded as the 
first condition of the healthy action of the brain ; for, be- 
ing a part of the animal economy, it is subject to the 
same general laws that govern the other bodily organs. 
When a healthy brain is transmitted to children, and 
their treatment from infancy is judicious and rational, 
its health becomes so firmly established that, in after 
life, its power of endurance will be greatly increased, 
and it will be enabled most effectually to ward off the 
insidious attacks of disease. On the other hand, where 
this organ has either inherited deficiencies and imper- 
fections, or where they have been subsequently induced 
by early mismanagement, it becomes peculiarly suscep- 
tible, and frequently yields to the slightest attacks. The 
most eminent physiologists of the age concur in the 
opinion that, of all the causes which predispose to nerv- 
ous and mental disease, the transmission of hereditary 
tendency from parents to children is the most power- 
ful, producing, as it does, in the children, an unusual 
liability to those maladies under which their parents 
have labored. 

When both parents are descended from tainted fam- 
ilies, their progeny, as a matter of course, will be more 
deeply affected than where one of them is from a pure 
stock. This sufficiently accounts for the fact that he- 

* Report on Manual Labor, by Theodore D. Weld, 1833. 



INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL EDUCATION. 115 

reditary predisposition is a more common cause of 
nervous disease in those circles that intermarry much 
with each other than where a wider choice is exercis- 
ed. Fortunately, such is the constitution of society in 
this country, that there are fewer evils of this kind 
among us than are manifest in many of the European 
states, where intermarriages are restricted to persons 
of the same rank, as has already been illustrated by 
reference to the grandees of Spain, who have become 
a race of dwarfs intellectually as well as physically. 
But even in this country there are painful illustrations 
of the truth of the popular belief that when cousins 
intermarry their offspring are liable to be idiotic. The 
command of God not to marry within certain degrees 
of consanguinity is, then, in accordance with the organic 
laws of our being, and the w T isdom of the prohibition is 
abundantly confirmed by observation. 

What was said of hereditary transmission in the sec- 
ond chapter of this work applies here with increased 
force. It is of the highest possible importance that 
this subject should receive the especial attention of 
every parent, and of all who may hereafter sustain the 
parental relation ; for posterity, to the latest genera- 
tions, will be affected by the laws of hereditary trans- 
mission, whether those laws are understood and obey- 
ed or not. The importance of this subject, already in- 
conceivably vast, becomes infinitely momentous in view 
of the probability that the evils under consideration are 
not confined to this life, but must, from the nature of 
the case, continue to be felt while mind endures. 

Unfortunately, it is not merely as a cause of disease 
that hereditary predisposition is to be dreaded. The 
obstacles which it throws in the way of permanent re- 
covery are even more formidable, and can never be 
entirely removed. Safety is to be found only in avoid- 



11(5 THE NATURE OF 

ing the perpetuation of the mischief. When, therefore, 
two persons, each naturally of an excitable and delicate 
nervous temperament, choose to unite for life, they have 
themselves to blame for the concentrated influence of 
similar tendencies in destroying the health of their off- 
spring, and subjecting them to all the miseries of nerv- 
ous disease, melancholy, or madness. 

There is another consideration that should be noticed 
here: it is this. Even where no hereditary defect ex- 
ists, the state of the mother during pregnancy has an 
influence on the mental character and health of the off- 
spring, of which even few parents have any adequate 
conception. " It is often in the maternal womb that 
we are to look for the true cause not only of imbecility, 
but of the different kinds of mania. During the agitated 
periods of the French Revolution, many ladies then 
pregnant, and whose minds were kept constantly on 
the stretch by the anxiety and alarm inseparable from 
the epoch in which they lived, and whose nervous sys- 
tems were thereby rendered irritable in the highest 
degree compatible with sanity, were afterward deliv- 
ered of infants whose brains and nervous systems had 
been affected to such a degree by the state of their pa- 
rent, that, in future life, as children they were subject 
to spasms, convulsions, and other nervous affections, 
and in youth to imbecility or madness, almost without 
any exciting cause."* 

* The testimony of M. Esquirol, whose talent, general accuracy, and 
extensive experience give great weight to all his well-considered opin- 
ions, quoted, also, and confirmed by the Physician Extraordinary to the 
Queen in Scotland, and consulting Physician to the King and Queen of 
the Belgians. 

The same eminent author has recorded the following fact, illustra- 
ting the extent to which the temporary stale of the mother, during ges- 
tation, may influence the whole future life of the child. A pregnant 
woman, otherwise healthy, was greatly alarmed and terrified by the 
threats of her husband when in a state of intoxication. She was after- 



INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL EDUCATION. 117 

Dr. Caldwell, too, an able and philanthropic advocate 
of an improved system of physical, intellectual, and 
moral education in this country, is very urgent in en- 
forcing rational care, during the period of gestation, 
on the part of every mother who values the future 
health and happiness of her offspring. Among other 
things, he insists on mothers taking more active exer- 
cise in the open air than they usually do. He also 
cautions them against allowing a feeling of false deli- 
cacy to keep them confined in their rooms for weeks 
and months together. At such times especially the 
mind ought to be kept free from gloom or anxiety, and 
in that state of cheerful activity which results from the 
proper exercise of the intellect, and especially of the 
moral and social feelings. 

But if seclusion and depression be hurtful to the un- 
born progeny, surely thoughtless dissipation and late 
hours, dancing and waltzing, together with irritability 
of temper and peevishness of disposition, can not be 
less injurious. Every female that is about to become 
a mother should treasure up the remark of that sensi- 
ble lady, the Margravine of Anspach, who says, "when , 
a female is likely to become a mother, she ought to be 
doubly careful of her temper, and, in particular, to in- 
dulge no ideas that are not cheerful and no sentiments 
that are not kind. Such is the connection between 
the mind and the body, that the features of the face are 
moulded commonly into an expression of the internal 
disposition ; and is it not natural to think that an infant, 

ward delivered, at the proper time, of a very delicate child, which was 
so much affected by its mother'b agitation that, up to the age of eigh- 
teen, it continued subject to panic terrors, and then became complete- 
ly maniacal. 

Many illustrative instances might be quoted from medical writers in 
this and other counties. The author might also refer to cases that 
have fallen under his own observation. 



118 THE NATURE OF 

before it is born, may be affected by the temper of its 
mother ?" If these things are true — and they are as 
well authenticated as any physiological facts are or 
can be — then not only mothers, but all with whom they 
associate, and especially/btf/zers, are interested in know- 
ing these important physiological laws ; and they should 
aim, from the very beginning, so to observe them as to 
secure to posterity, physically and mentally, the full 
benefits that are connected with cheerful obedience. 

A due supply of properly oxygenated blood is another 
condition upon which the healthy action of the brain 
depends. Although it may not be easy to perceive the 
effects of slight differences in the quality of the blood, 
still, when these differences exist in a considerable de- 
gree, the effects are too obvious to be overlooked. 
Withdraw entirely the stimulus of arterial blood, and 
the brain ceases to act, and sensibility and conscious- 
ness become extinct. When carbonic acid gas is in- 
haled, the blood circulating through the lungs does not 
undergo that process of oxygenation which is essential 
to life, as has been explained in a preceding chapter. 
As the venous blood in this unchanged state is unfit to 
excite or sustain the action of the brain, the mental 
functions become impaired, and death speedily ensues, 
as in the case of a number of persons breathing a por- 
tion of confined air, or inhaling the fumes of charcoal. 
On the other hand, if oxygen gas be inhaled instead of 
common air, the blood becomes too much oxygenated, 
and, as a consequence, the brain is unduly stimulated, 
and an intensity of action bordering on inflammation 
takes place, which also soon terminates in death. 

These are extreme cases, I admit ; but their conse- 
quences are equally remarkable and fatal. The slight- 
er variations in the state of the blood produce equally 
sure, though less palpable effects. Whenever its vital- 



INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL EDUCATION. 119 

ity is impaired by breathing an atmosphere so vitiated 
as not to produce the proper degree of oxygenation, 
the blood can only afford an imperfect stimulus to the 
brain. As a necessary consequence, languor and in- 
activity of the mental and nervous functions ensue, and 
a tendency to headache, fainting, or hysteria makes its 
appearance. This is seen every day in the listlessness 
and apathy prevalent in crowded and ill-ventilated 
school-rooms, and in the headaches and liability to 
fainting which are so sure to attack persons of a deli- 
cate habit, in the contaminated atmospheres of crowded 
theaters, churches, and assemblies of whatever kind. 
The same effects, although less strikingly apparent, 
are perhaps more permanently felt by the inmates of 
cotton manufactories and public hospitals, who are 
noted for being irritable and sensitive. The languor 
and nervous debility consequent on confinement in ill- 
ventilated apartments, or in air vitiated by the breath 
of many people, are neither more nor less than minor 
degrees of the process of poisoning, which was partic- 
ularly explained in the preceding chapter, while treat- 
ing upon the philosophy of respiration. 

That it is not real debility which produces these ef- 
fects, is apparent from the fact, that egress to the open 
air almost instantly restores activity and vigor to both 
mind and body, unless the exposure has been very long. 
There is an interesting but fearful illustration of the 
truth of this statement at the 96th page of this work, to 
which I beg leave to refer. Where the exposure has 
been very long continued, more time is of course re- 
quired to re-establish the exhausted powers of the brain. 
Indeed, we may not, in such cases, hope for complete 
recovery ; for when persons remain several hours a 
day in a vitiated atmosphere, for weeks and months 
together, both mind and body become permanently dis- 



120 THE NATURE OF 

eased. It is well known to every person who has given 
attention to the subject, that hitherto this has been the 
condition of public schools, generally, in every part of 
the United States, and throughout the civilized world. 
This has, perhaps, tended more than all other causes 
combined, to render the profession of teaching disrepu- 
table, and to constitute the very name of schoolmas- 
ter, or pedagogue, a hissing and a by- word. And why 
is this? I can account for it in but one way. The 
school teacher is subject to the same organic laws as 
other men; and, either on account of the ignorance or 
parsimony of his employers, he has been shut up with 
their children several hours a day, in narrow and ill- 
ventilated apartments, where, whatever else they may 
have done, their principal business has of necessity been 
to poison one another to death. And, as if not satisfied 
with this, when the teacher has ruined his health in our 
employment, and become a mere wreck, physically and 
mentally, we despise him. This is a double injustice, 
and is adding insult to injury. And the consequences 
are hardly less fatal to the children. The situation of 
the majority of our schools, when viewed in connection 
with the physiological laws already explained, suffi- 
ciently accounts for that irritability, listlessness, and lan- 
guor which have been so often observed in both teach- 
ers and pupils. Both irritability of the nervous system 
and dullness of the intellect are unquestionably the di- 
rect and necessary result of a want of pure air. The 
vital energies of the pupils are thus prostrated, and 
they become not only restless and indisposed to study, 
but absolutely incapable of studying. Their minds 
hence wander, and they unavoidably seek relief in mis- 
chievous and disorderly conduct. This doubly pro- 
vokes the already exasperated teacher, who can hardly 
look with complaisance upon good behavior, and who, 



INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL EDUCATION. 121 

from a like cause, is in the same irritable condition of 
both body and mind with themselves. He, too, must 
needs give vent to his irascible feelings some how. 
And what way is more natural, under such circum- 
stances, than to resort to the use of the ferule, the rod, 
and the strap ! We have already referred to a case, 
in which formerly fever constantly prevailed, but where 
disease disappeared altogether upon the introduction of 
pure air. Let the same prudential course be adopted 
in our schools, in connection with other appropriate 
means, and we shall readily see the superiority of the 
natural stimulus of oxygen over the artificial sedative 
of the rod. 

The regular and systematic exercise of the functions 
of the brain is another condition upon which its healthy 
action depends. The brain is an organized part, and 
is subject to precisely the same laws of exercise that 
the other bodily organs are. If it is doomed to inac- 
tivity, its health decays, and the mental operations and 
feelings, as a necessary consequence, become dull, 
feeble, and slow. But let it be duly exercised after 
regular intervals of repose, and the mind acquires ac- 
tivity and strength. Too severe or too protracted ex- 
ercise of the brain is as great a violation of the organic 
law just stated as inactivity is, and is sometimes pro- 
ductive of the most fearful consequences. By over- 
tasking this organ, either in the force or duration of its 
activity, its functions become impaired, and irritability 
and disease take the place of health and vigor. 

So important is the law under consideration, and so 
essential to the health of the brain and to the welfare 
of man, that I deem it advisable to explain more par- 
ticularly the consequences of both inadequate and ex- 
cessive exercise. 

We have seen that by disuse the muscles become 

F 



122 THE NATURE OF 

emaciated and the bones soften. The blood-vessels, in 
like manner, become obliterated, and the nerves lose 
their characteristic structure. The brain is no excep- 
tion to this general rule. Its tone is impaired by per- 
manent inactivity, and it becomes less fit to manifest 
the mental powers with readiness and energy. Nor 
will this surprise any reflecting person, who considers 
that the brain, as a part of the same animal system, is 
nourished by the same blood, and regulated by the same 
vital laws as the muscles, bones, arteries, and nerves. 

It is the withdrawal of the stimulus necessary to the 
healthy exercise of the brain, and the consequent weak- 
ening and depressing effect produced upon this organ, 
that renders solitary confinement so severe a punish- 
ment even to the most daring minds. It is a lower 
degree of the same cause that renders continuous se- 
clusion from society so injurious to both mental and 
physical health. This explains why persons who are 
cut off from social converse by some bodily infirmity 
so frequently become discontented and morose, in spite 
of every resolution to the contrary. The feelings and 
faculties of the mind, which had formerly full play in 
their intercourse with their fellow-creatures, have no 
longer scope for sufficient exercise, and the almost in- 
evitable result is irritability and weakness in the cor- 
responding parts of the brain. 

This fact is strikingly illustrated by reference to the 
deaf and blind, who, by the loss of one or more of the 
senses, are precluded from a full participation in all 
the varied sources of interest which their more favor- 
ed brethren enjoy without abatement, and in whom ir- 
ritability, weakness of mind, and idiocy are known to 
be much more prevalent than among other classes of 
people. "The deaf and dumb," says Andral, "pre- 
sents, in intelligence, character, and the development of 



INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL EDUCATION. 123 

his passions, certain modifications, which depend on his 
state of isolation in the midst of society. He remains 
habitually in a state of half childishness, is very cred- 
ulous, but, like the savage, remains free from many 
of the prejudices acquired in society. In him the ten- 
der feelings are not deep ; he appears susceptible nei- 
ther of strong attachment nor of lively gratitude ; pity 
moves him feebly ; he has little emulation, few enjoy- 
ments, and few desires. This is what is commonly 
observed in the deaf and dumb ; but the picture is far 
from being of universal application ; some, more hap- 
pily endowed, are remarkable for the great develop- 
ment of their intellectual and moral nature ; but others, 
on the contrary, remain immersed in complete idiocy." 

Andral adds, that we must not infer from this that 
the deaf and dumb are therefore constitutionally infe- 
rior in mind to other men. " Their powers are not de- 
veloped, because they live isolated from society. Place 
them, by some means or other, in relation with their fel- 
low-men, and they will become their equals." This is 
the cause of the rapid brightening up of both mind and 
features, which is so often observed in blind or deaf 
children when transferred from home to public insti- 
tutions, and there taught the means of converse with 
their fellows. 

I have myself witnessed several striking illustrations 
of the benefits resulting from mental culture in persons 
who have lost one or more of their senses. Among 
these I would especially instance the American Asy- 
lum at Hartford for the education and instruction of 
the deaf and dumb, and the Perkins Institution and 
Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind, located at South 
Boston, to the accomplished principals and teachers of 
both of which institutions I would acknowledge my in- 
debtedness for valuable reports and the information of 



124 THE NATURE OF 

various kinds which they obligingly communicated to 
me at the time of my visits during the past summer. 

Dr. Howe, the accomplished director of the Asylum 
for the Blind, after many years of experience and care- 
ful observation in this country and in Europe, expresses 
the conviction that the blind, as a class, are inferior to 
other persons in mental power and ability. The opinions 
put forth in almost every report of the institutions for 
the blind in this country, in almost all books on the 
subject, and even the doctor's earlier writings, may be 
brought to disprove this statement. He is now, never- 
theless, fully convinced that it will be found true. This 
erroneous conviction, every where so prevalent, may 
be accounted for from the fact that none but intelligent 
parents of blind children could at first comprehend the 
possibility of their being educated, and even they 
would not think of trying the experiment except upon 
a child of more than ordinary ability. As soon, how- 
ever, as the experiment proved successful, and institu- 
tions for the blind became generally known, the blind, 
without distinction — the bright and the backward, the 
bold and the timid — resorted to them, which gave an 
opportunity of judging of the whole class. The result 
is, that now, while the schools for the blind present a 
certain number of children who make more rapid prog- 
ress in intellectual studies than the average of seeing 
children, they also present a much larger number who 
are decidedly inferior to them in both physical and 
mental vigor. 

The loss of one sense makes us exercise the others 
so constantly and so effectually as to acquire a power 
quite unknown to common persons. This goes far to 
compensate the blind man who is in the pursuit of 
knowledge, and enables him to learn vastly more of 
some subjects than other" men ; but there are capacities 



INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL EDUCATION. 12f» 

of his nature which can never be developed. Perfect 
harmony in the exercise and development of his mental 
faculties he can never possess, any more than he can 
exhibit perfect physical beauty and proportion. 

The proposition that the blind, as a class, are inferior 
in mental power and ability to ordinary persons, has 
been established beyond a doubt. Take an equal num- 
ber of blind and seeing persons, of as nearly the same 
age and situation in life as may be, and it has been 
established by well authenticated data, that when all 
the blind have died, there will still be about half of the 
seeing ones alive. In other words, the chance of life 
among the blind is only about half what it is among the 
seeing. The standard of bodily health and vigor, then, 
being so much lower among the blind, the inevitable 
inference is that mental power and ability will be pro- 
portionably less also; for such is the dependence of the 
mind upon the body, that there can be no continuance of 
mental health and vigor without bodily health and vigor. 

It is also true that the deaf and dumb, as a class, are 
inferior to other persons in mental power and ability. 
The general reasons for this are the same as those al- 
ready given in the case of blind persons, and need not 
hence be repeated. The truth of this proposition is 
established beyond a doubt by the concurrent testi- 
mony of those who have had the greatest experience 
with this unfortunate class' of persons both in this 
country and in Europe. The report of the directors 
of the American Asylum for the year 1845 shows that 
two pupils had' died during the year. One of these 
had an affection of the lungs which terminated in con- 
sumption, and the disease of the other was dropsy on 
the brain. In a third, hereditary consumption was 
rapidly developing itself. Others, still, had been sub- 
ject to more or less of bodily indisposition. 



126 THE NATURE OF 

After speaking of the case of a young man in whom 
hereditary consumption had been rapidly developed, 
the following statement is introduced : " This great 
destroyer of our race is found extensively in Europe, 
as well as in our own country, to be a common disease 
among the deaf and dumb. It is brought on by scrof- 
ula, by fevers, by violent colds, and by various other 
causes ; and there is often, no doubt, a hereditary tend- 
ency to it in families connected by blood." If this is the 
effect of the loss of one of the senses upon the bodily 
health, keeping in view the principle already stated, we 
shall naturally enough be led to inquire what the in- 
fluence is upon the health of the mind. A careful ex- 
amination of the educational statistics of several states 
has convinced me that an unusually large proportion 
of the deaf and dumb — and perhaps an equally large 
proportion of the blind, and especially those who have 
remained uneducated and unenlightened — have been 
visited with mental derangement, and have lived and 
died insane. 

This is easily accounted for. Uneducated persons, 
who are deprived of one or more of the senses, are iso- 
lated from the world in which they live. The book of 
nature is open before them, but they are unable to 
peruse it. The simplest operations constantly going 
on around them are locked in mystery. They are an 
enigma to themselves. Even those who are endowed 
with inquisitive minds are perplexed with the existing 
state of things. They know nothing of the physical 
organization of the planet we inhabit, of its political 
and civil divisions, and of the whole machinery of hu- 
man society, and are profoundly ignorant of the past 
history and future destiny of the race to which they 
belong. It is not remarkable that mind so unnaturally 
and peculiarly circumstanced — with its usual inlets of 



INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL EDUCATION. 127 

knowledge so obstructed, and deprived of external ob- 
jects to act upon — should prey upon itself, and thus 
superinduce insanity in its usual forms, and more espe- 
cially when unaided and undirected by education. 

Keeping the same principle in view, we shall not be 
surprised to find that want of exercise of the brain and 
nervous system, or, in other words, that inactivity of 
intellect and feeling, is a very frequent predisposing 
cause of every form of nervous disease, even with those 
who have not been deprived of any of their senses. 
For demonstrative evidence of this position, we have 
only to look at the numerous victims to be found among 
females of the middle and higher ranks, who have no 
call to exertion in gaining the means of subsistence, 
and no objects of interest on which to exercise their 
mental faculties, and who consequently sink into a state 
of mental sloth and nervous weakness, which not only 
deprives them of much enjoyment, but subjects them to 
suffering, both of body and mind, from the slightest 
causes. 

In looking abroad upon society, we find innumerable 
examples of mental and nervous debility from this 
cause. When a person of some mental capacity is 
confined for a long time to an unvarying round of em- 
ployment, which affords neither scope nor stimulus for 
one half of his faculties, and, from want of education 
or society, has no external resources, his mental pow- 
ers, for want of exercise to keep up due vitality in their 
cerebral organs, become blunted, and his perceptions 
slow and dull. Unusual subjects of thought become to 
him disagreeable and painful. The intellect and feel- 
ings not being provided with interests external to them- 
selves, must either become inactive and weak, or work 
upon themselves and become diseased. 

But let the situation of such persons be changed ; 



128 THE NATURE OF 

bring them, for instance, from the listlessness of retire- 
ment to the business and bustle of a city ; give them a 
variety of imperative employments, and place them in 
society so as to supply to their cerebral organs that 
extent of exercise which gives health and vivacity of 
action, and in a few months the change produced will 
be surprising. Health, animation, and acuteness will 
take the place of former insipidity and dullness. In 
such instances, it would be absurd to suppose that it is 
the mind itself which becomes heavy and feeble, and 
again revives into energy by these changes in external 
circumstances. The effects arise entirely from changes 
in the state of the brain, and the mental manifestations 
and the bodily health have been improved solely by 
the improvement of its condition. 

The evils arising from excessive or ill-timed exer- 
cise of the brain, or any of its parts, are numerous, and 
equally in accordance with the ordinary laws of physi- 
ology. When we use the eye too long or in too bright 
a light, it becomes bloodshot, and the increased action 
of its vessels and nerves gives rise to a sensation of fa- 
tigue and pain requiring us to desist. If we turn away 
and relieve the eye, the irritation gradually subsides, 
and the healthv state returns ; but if we continue to 
look intently, or resume our employment before the 
eye has regained its natural state by repose, the irrita- 
tion at last becomes permanent, and disease, followed 
by weakness of sight, or even blindness, may ensue, as 
often happens to glass-blowers, smiths, and others who 
are obliged to work in an intense light. 

Precisely analogous phenomena occur when, from 
intense mental excitement, the brain is kept long in a 
state of excessive activity. The only difference is, 
that we can always see what happens in the eye, but 
rarely what takes place in the brain. Occasionally, 



INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL EDUCATION. 129 

however, cases of fracture of the skull occur, in which, 
part of the bone being removed, we can see the quick- 
ened circulation in the vessels of the brain as easily as 
in those of the eye. Sir Astley Cooper had a young 
gentleman brought to him who had lost a portion of 
his skull just above the eyebrow. " On examining the 
head," says Sir Astley, " I distinctly saw that the pul- 
sation of the brain was regular and slow ; but at this 
time he was agitated by some opposition to his wishes, 
and directly the blood was sent with increased force 
to the brain, and the pulsation became frequent and 
violent." Sir Astley hence concludes that, in the 
treatment of injuries of the brain, if you omit to keep 
the mind free from agitation, your other means will be 
unavailing. 

A still more remarkable case is said to have occur- 
red in the hospital of Montpellier in 1821. The sub- 
ject of it was a female who had lost a large portion of 
her scalp, skull-bone, and dura mater. A correspond- 
ing portion of her brain was consequently bare, and 
subject to inspection. When she was in a dreamless 
sleep, her brain was motionless, and lay within the cra- 
nium ; but when her sleep w T as imperfect, and she was 
agitated by dreams, her brain moved and protruded 
without the cranium. In vivid dreams the protrusion 
was considerable ; and when she was awake and en- 
gaged in active thought or sprightly conversation, it 
was still greater. 

In alluding to this subject, Dr. Caldwell remarks, that 
if it were possible, without doing an injury to other 
parts, to augment the constant afflux of healthy arterial 
blood to the brain, the mental operations would be in- 
vigorated by it. This position is illustrated by refer- 
ence to the fact that when a public speaker is flushed 
and heated in debate, his mind works more freely and 

F2 



130 Till: NATURE OF 

powerfully than at any other time. And why ? Be- 
cause his brain is in better tune. What has thus sud- 
denly improved its condition 1 An increased current 
of blood into it, produced by the excitement of its own 
increased action. That the blood does, on such occa- 
sions, flow more CQpiously into the brain, no one can 
doubt who is at all acquainted with the cerebral sensa- 
tions which the orator himself experiences at the time, 
or who witnesses the unusual fullness and flush of his 
countenance, and the dewiness, flashing, and protrusion 
of his eye. 

Indeed, in many instances, the increased circulation 
in the brain attendant on high mental excitement re- 
veals itself by its effects when least expected, and 
leaves traces after death which are but too legible. 
Many are the instances in which public men have been 
suddenly arrested in their career by the inordinate ac- 
tion of the brain induced by incessant toil, and more 
numerous still are those whose mental power has been 
forever impaired by similar excess. 

It is generally known that the eye, when tasked be- 
yond its strength, becomes insensible to light, and ceases 
to convey impressions to the mind. The brain, in like 
manner, when much exhausted, becomes incapable of 
thought, and consciousness is well-nigh lost in a feeling 
of utter confusion. At any time in life, excessive and 
continued mental exertion is hurtful ; but in infancy 
and early youth, when the structure of the brain is still 
immature and delicate, permanent injury is more easily 
produced by injudicious treatment than at any subse- 
quent period. In this respect, the analogy is complete 
between the brain and the other parts of the body, as 
we have already seen exemplified in the injurious ef- 
fects of premature exercise of the bones and muscles. 
Scrofulous and rickety children are the most usual suf- 



INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL EDUCATION 131 

ferers in this way. They are generally remarkable 
for large heads, great precocity of understanding, and 
small, delicate bodies. But in such instances, the great 
size of the brain, and the acuteness of the mind, are the 
results of morbid growth, and even with the best man- 
agement, the child passes the first years of its life con- 
stantly on the brink of active disease. Instead, how- 
ever, of trying to repress its mental activity, as they 
should, the fond parents, misled by the promise of ge- 
nius, too often excite it still further by unceasing cul- 
tivation and the never-failing stimulus of praise ; and 
finding its progress, for a time, equal to their warmest 
wishes, they look forward with ecstasy to the day 
when its talents Will break forth and shed a luster on 
their name. But in exact proportion as the picture be- 
comes brighter to their fancy, the probability of its be- 
coming realized becomes less; for the brain, worn out 
by premature exertion, either becomes diseased or 
loses its tone, leaving the mental powers feeble and de- 
pressed for the remainder of life. The expected prod- 
igy is thus, in the end, easily outstripped in the social 
race by many whose dull outset promised him an easy 
victory. 

To him who takes for his guide the necessities of the 
constitution, it will be obvious that the modes of treat- 
ment commonly resorted to should in such cases be 
reversed ; and that, instead of straining to the utmost 
the already irritable powers of the precocious child 
leaving his dull competitors to ripen at leisure, a sys- 
tematic attempt ought to be made, from early infancy, 
to rouse to action the languid faculties of the latter, 
while no pains should be spared to moderate and give 
tone to the activity of the former. But instead of this, 
the prematurely intelligent child is generally sent to 
school, and tasked with lessons at an unusually early 



132 THE NATURE OF 

age, while the healthy but more backward boy, who 
requires to be stimulated, is kept at home in idleness 
merely on acount of his backwardness. A double 
error is here committed, and the consequences to the 
active-minded boy are not unfrequently the permanent 
loss both of health and of his envied superiority of in- 
tellect. 

In speaking of children of this description, Dr. Brig- 
ham, in an excellent little work on the influence of 
mental excitement on health, remarks as follows : 
" Dangerous forms of scrofulous disease among chil- 
dren have repeatedly fallen under my observation, for 
which I could not account in any other way than by 
supposing that the brain had been excited at the ex- 
pense of the other parts of the system, and at a time in 
life when nature is endeavoring to perfect all the or- 
gans of the body; and after the disease commenced, I 
have seen, with grief, the influence of the same cause 
in retarding or preventing recovery. I have seen 
several affecting and melancholy instances of children, 
five or six years of age, lingering a while with diseases 
from which those less gifted readily recover, and at last 
dying, notwithstanding the utmost efforts to restore 
them. During their sickness they constantly manifest- 
ed a passion for books and mental excitement, and 
were admired for the maturity of their minds. The 
chance for the recovery of such precocious children 
is, in my opinion, small when attacked by disease; and 
several medical men have informed me that their own 
observations had led them to form the same opinion, 
and have remarked that, in two cases of sickness, if 
one of the patients was a child of superior and highly- 
cultivated mental powers, and the other one equally 
sick, but whose mind had not been excited by study, 
they should feel less confident of the recovery of the 



INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL EDUCATION. 133 

former than of the latter. This mental precocity re- 
sults from an unnatural development of one organ of 
the body at the expense of the constitution." 

There can be little doubt but that ignorance on the 
part of parents and teachers is the principal cause 
that leads to the too early and excessive cultivation of 
the minds of children, and especially of such as are 
precocious and delicate. Hence the necessity of im- 
parting instruction on this subject to both parents and 
teachers, and to all persons who are in any way charged 
with the care and education of the young. This ne- 
cessity becomes the more imperative from the fact that 
the cupidity of authors and publishers has led to the 
preparation of "children's books," many of which are 
announced as purposely prepared "for children from 
two to three years old !" I might instance advertise- 
ments of " Infant Manuals" of Botany, Geometry, and 
Astronomy ! 

In not a few isolated families, but in many neighbor- 
hoods, villages, and cities, in various parts of the coun- 
try, children under three years of age are not only re- 
quired to commit to memory many verses, texts of 
Scripture, and stories, but are frequently sent to school 
for six hours a day. Few children are kept back later 
than the age of four, unless they reside a great dis- 
tance from school, and some not even then. At home, 
too, they are induced by all sorts of excitement to 
learn additional tasks, or peruse juvenile books and 
magazines, till the nervous system becomes enfeebled 
and the health broken. " I have myself," says Dr. 
Brigham, " seen many children who are supposed to 
possess almost miraculous mental powers, experiencing 
these effects and sinking under them. Some of them 
died early, when but six or eight years of age, but 
manifested to the last a maturity of understanding, 



134 THE NATURE OF 

which only increased the agony of separation. Their 
minds, like some of the fairest flowers, were * no sooner 
blown than blasted ;' others have grown up to man- 
hood, but with feeble bodies and disordered nervous 
system, which subjected them to hypochondriasis, dys- 
pepsy, and all the Protean forms of nervous disease ; 
others of the class of early prodigies exhibit in man- 
hood but small mental powers, and are the mere passive 
instruments of those who in early life were accounted 
far their inferiors." 

This hot-bed system of education is not confined to 
the United States, but is practiced less or more in all 
civilized countries. Dr. Combe, of Scotland, gives an 
account of one of these early prodigies whose fate he 
witnessed. The circumstances were exactly such as 
those above described. The prematurely developed 
intellect was admired, and constantly stimulated by in- 
judicious praise, and by daily exhibition to every visitor 
who chanced to call. Entertaining books were thrown 
in its way, reading by the fireside encouraged, play and 
exercise neglected, the diet allowed to be full and heat- 
ing, and the appetite pampered by every delicacy. 
The results were the speedy deterioration of a weak 
constitution, a high degree of nervous sensibility, de- 
ranged digestion, disordered bowels, defective nutri- 
tion, and, lastly, death, at the very time when the in- 
terest excited by the mental precocity was at its height. 

Such, however, is the ignorance of the majority of 
parents and teachers on all physiological subjects, that 
when one of these infant prodigies dies from erroneous 
treatment, it is not unusual to publish a memoir of his 
life, that other parents and teachers may see by what 
means such transcendent qualities were called forth. 
Dr. Brigham refers to a memoir of this kind, in which 
the history of a child, aged four years and eleven 



INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL EDUCATION. 135 

months, is narrated as approved by " several judicious 
persons, ministers and others, all of whom united in the 
request that it might be published, and all agreed in the 
opinion that a knowledge of the manner in which the 
child was treated, together with the results, would be 
profitable to both parents and children, and a benefit to 
the cause of education." This infant philosopher was 
" taught hymns before he could speak plainly ;" " rea- 
soned with" and constantly instructed until his last ill- 
ness, which, " without any assignable cause" put on a 
violent and unexpected form, and carried him off! 

As a warning to others not to force education too 
soon or too fast, this case may be truly profitable to 
both parents and children, and a benefit to the cause 
of education ; but as an example to be followed, it as- 
suredly can not be too strongly or too loudly condemn- 
ed. While I speak thus strongly, I am ready to admit 
that infant schools in which physical health and moral 
training are duly attended to are excellent institutions, 
and are particularly advantageous where parents, from 
want of leisure or from other causes, are unable to be- 
stow upon their children that attention which their 
tender years require. 

In youth, too, much mischief is done by the long daily 
periods of attendance at school, and the continued ap- 
plication of mind which the ordinary system of educa- 
tion requires. The law of exercise already more than 
once repeated, that long-sustained action exhausts the 
vital powers of an organ, applies as well to the brain 
as to the muscles. Hence the necessity of varying the 
occupations of the young, and allowing frequent inter- 
vals of active exercise in the open air, instead of en- 
forcing the continued confinement now so common. 
This exclusive attention to mental culture fails, as might 
be expected, even in its essential object ; for all experi- 



136 THE NATURE OF 

ence shows that, with a rational distribution of emploj 
ment and exercise, a child will make greater progress 
in a given period than in double the time employed in 
continuous mental exertion. If the human being were 
made up of nothing but a brain and nervous system, we 
might do well to content ourselves with sedentary pur- 
suits, and to confine our attention entirely to the mind. 
But when we learn from observation that we have nu- 
merous other important organs of motion, sanguifica- 
tion, digestion, circulation, and nutrition, all demanding 
exercise in the open air, as alike essential to their own 
health and to that of the nervous system, it is worse 
than folly to shut our eyes to the truth, and to act as 
if we could, by denying it, alter the constitution of na- 
ture, and thereby escape the consequences of our own 
misconduct. 

Reason and experience being thus set at naught by 
both parents and teachers in the education of their 
children, young people naturally grow up with the no- 
lion that no such influences as the laws of organization 
exist, and that they may follow any course of life which 
inclination leads them to prefer without injury to health, 
provided they avoid what is called dissipation. Jt is 
owing to this ignorance that young men of a studious 
or literary habit enter heedlessly upon an amount of 
• mental exertion, unalleviated by bodily exercise or in- 
tervals of repose, which is quite incompatible with the 
continued enjoyment of a sound mind in a sound body. 
Such, however, is the effect of the total neglect of all 
instruction in the laws of the organic frame during 
early education, that it becomes almost impossible ef- 
fectually to warn an ardent student against the dangers 
to which he is constantly exposing himself. Nothing 
but actual experience will convince him of the truth. 
Numerous are the instances in which young men of 



INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL EDUCATION. 137 

the first promise have almost totally disqualified them- 
selves for future useful exertion in consequence of long- 
protracted and severe study, who, under a more ration- 
al system of education, might have attained that emi* 
nence, the injudicious pursuit of which has defeated 
their own most cherished hopes, and ruined their gen- 
eral health. Such persons might be saved to them- 
selves and to society by early instruction in the nature 
and laws of the animal economy. They mean well, 
but err from ignorance more than from headstrong zeal. 
I shall conclude this chapter with a few rules relat- 
ing to mental exercise, and the development and cul- 
ture of the mind and brain. It is a law of the animal 
economy that two classes of functions can not be called 
into vigorous action at the same time without one or 
the other, or both, sooner or later sustaining injury. 
Hence the important rule never to enter upon contin- 
ued mental exertion or to rouse deep feeling immedi- 
ately after a full meal, otherwise the activity of the 
brain is sure to interfere w T ith that of the stomach, and 
disorder its functions. Even in a perfectly healthy 
person, unwelcome news, sudden anxiety, or mental 
excitement, occurring after eating, will put an entire 
stop to digestion, and cause the stomach to loathe the 
sight of food. In accordance with this rule, we learn 
by experience that the very worst forms of indigestion 
and nervous depression are those which arise from ex- 
cessive mental application, or turmoil of feeling and 
distraction of mind, conjoined with unrestrained indul- 
gence in the pleasures of the table. In such circum- 
stances, the stomach and brain react upon and disturb 
each other, till all the horrors of nervous disease make 
their unwelcome appearance, and render life misera- 
ble. The tendency to inactivity and sleep, which be- 
sets most animals after a full meal, shows repose to be, 



138 THE NATURE OF 

in such circumstances, the evident intention of Nature. 
The bad effects of violating this rule, although not in 
all cases immediately apparent, will most assuredly be 
manifest at a period less or more remote. 

Dr. Caldwell, who has devoted much time and talent 
to the diffusion of sound physiological information and 
the general improvement of the race, and whose op- 
portunities of observation have been very extensive, 
expressly states, that dyspepsy and madness prevail 
more extensively in the United States than among the 
people of any other nation. Of the amount of our dys- 
peptics, he says, no estimate can be formed ; but it is 
immense. Whether we inquire in cities, towns, villa- 
ges, or. country places ; among the rich, the poor, or 
those in moderate circumstances, we find dyspepsy 
more or less prevalent throughout the land. 

The early part of the day is the best time for severe 
mental exertion. Nature has allotted the darkness of 
night for repose, and for the restoration by sleep of the 
exhausted energies of both body and mind. If study 
or composition be ardently engaged in toward the close 
of the day, and especially at a late hour of the evening, 
sound and invigorating sleep may not be expected until 
the night is far spent, for the increased action of the 
brain which always accompanies activity of mind re- 
quires a long time to subside. Persons who practice 
night study, if they be at all of an irritable habit of 
body, will be sleepless for hours after going to bed, and 
be tormented perhaps by unpleasant dreams, which will 
render their sleep unrefreshing. If this practice be 
long continued, the want of refreshing repose will ulti- 
mately induce a state of morbid irritability of the nerv- 
ous system bordering on insanity. It is therefore of 
great advantage to engage in severer studies early in 
the day, and to devote the after part of the day and 



INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL EDUCATION. 139 

the evening to less intense application. It will be well 
to devote a portion of the evening, and especially the 
latter part of it, to light reading, music, or cheerful and 
amusing conversation. The excitement induced in the 
brain by previous study will be soothed by these in- 
fluences, and will more readily subside, and sound and 
refreshing sleep will be much more likely to follow. 
This rule is of the utmost importance to those who are 
obliged to perform a great amount of mental labor. It 
is only by conforming to it, and devoting their morn- 
ings to study and their evenings to relaxation, that 
many of our most prolific writers have been enabled to 
preserve their health. By neglecting this rule, others 
of the fairest promise have been cut down in the midst 
of their usefulness. 

Regularity is of great importance in the development 
and culture of the moral and intellectual powers, the 
tendency to resume the same mode, of action at stated 
times being peculiarly the characteristic of the nervous 
system. It is this principle of our nature which pro- 
motes the formation of what are called habits. By re- 
peating any kind of mental effort every day at the same 
hour, we at length find ourselves entering upon it, with- 
out premeditation, when the time approaches. In like 
manner, by arranging our studies in accordance with 
this law, and taking up each regularly in the same 
order, a natural aptitude is soon produced, which ren- 
ders application more easy than it would be were we 
to take up the subjects as accident might dictate. The 
tendency to periodical and associated activity some- 
times becomes so strong, that the faculties seem to go 
through their operations almost without conscious ef- 
fort, while their facility of action becomes so much in- 
creased as ultimately to give unerring certainty where 
at first great difficulty was experienced. It is not so 



140 THE NATURE OF 

much the soul or abstract principle of mind which is 
thus changed, as the organic medium through which 
mind is destined to act in the present mode of being. 

The necessity of judicious repetition in mental and 
moral education is, in fact, too little adverted to, be- 
cause the principle on which it is effectual has not hith- 
erto been generally understood. Practice is as neces- 
sary to induce facility of action in the organs of the 
mind as in those of motion The idea or feeling must 
not only be communicated, but it must be re-presented 
and reproduced in different forms till all the faculties 
concerned in understanding it come to work efficiently 
together in the conception of it, and until a sufficient im- 
pression is made upon the organ of mind to enable the 
latter to retain it. Servants and others are frequently 
blamed for not doing a thing at regular intervals when 
they have been but once told to do so. We learn, how- 
ever, from the organic laws, that it is presumptuous to 
expect the formation of a habit from a single act, and 
that we must reproduce the associated activity of the 
requisite faculties many times before the result will cer- 
tainly follow, just as we must repeat the movement 
in dancing or skating many times before we become 
master of it. 

We may understand a new subject by a single pe- 
rusal, but we can fully master it only by dwelling upon 
it again and again. In order to make a durable im- 
pression on the mind, repetition is necessary. It fol- 
lows, hence, that in learning a language or science, six 
successive months of application will be more effectual 
in fixing it indelibly in the mind, and making it a part 
of the mental furniture, than double or even treble the 
time if the lessons are interrupted by long intervals. 
The too common practice of beginning a study, and, 
after pursuing it a little time, leaving it to be completed 



INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL EDUCATION. 141 

at a later period, is unphilosophical and very injurious. 
The fatigue of study is thus doubled, and the success 
greatly diminished. Studies should not, as a general 
thing, be entered upon until the mind is sufficiently 
mature to understand them thoroughly, and, when be- 
gun, they should not be discontinued until they are com- 
pletely mastered. By this means the mind becomes 
accustomed to sound and healthy action, which alone 
can qualify the student foi\eminent usefulness in after 
life. Much of the want of success in the various de- 
partments of industry, and many of the failures that are 
constantly occurring among business men, are justly 
attributable to the fits of attention and the irregular 
modes of study they became habituated to in their 
school-boy days. Hence the mischief of long vaca- 
tions, and the evil of beginning studies before the age 
at which they may be understood. Parents and teach- 
ers should hence, at an early period, impress indelibly 
upon the minds of their children and pupils the ever 
true and practical sentiment, that what is worth doing 
at all is worth doing xoell. Although, at first, their 
progress may seem to be retarded thereby, still, in the 
end, it will contribute greatly to accelerate their real 
advancement, and in after life, whether employed in 
literary or business pursuits, will be a means of aug- 
menting their happiness and increasing their prospect 
of success in whatever department of labor they may 
be engaged. 

In physical education most persons seem well aware 
of the advantages of repetition. They know, for in- 
stance, that if practice in dancing, fencing, skating, and 
riding is persevered m for a sufficient length of time to 
give the muscles the requisite promptitude and harmo- 
ny of action, the power will be ever afterward retain- 
ed, although rarely called into use. But if we stop 



142 THE NATURE OF 

short of this point, we. may reiterate practice by fits 
and starts without any proportional advancement. 
The same principle is equally applicable to the moral 
and intellectual powers which operate by means of ma- 
terial organs. 

The impossibility of successfully playing the hypo- 
crite for any considerable length of time, and the ne- 
cessity of being in private what we wish to appear in 
public, spring from the same rule. If we wish to be 
ourselves polite, just, kind, and sociable, or to induce 
others to become so, we must act habitually under the 
influence of the corresponding sentiments, in the do- 
mestic circle, in the school-room, and in every-day life, 
as well as in the company of strangers and on great 
occasions. It is the private and daily practice of indi- 
viduals that gives ready activity to the sentiments and 
marks the real character. If parents or teachers in- 
dulge habitually in vulgarities of speech and behavior 
in the family or in the school, and put on politeness oc- 
casionally for the reception and entertainment of stran- 
gers, their true character will shine through the mask 
which is intended to conceal it. The habitual associa- 
tion to which the organs and faculties have been ac- 
customed can not thus be controlled. Parents hence, 
in addition to correct personal influence in the family, 
should provide for their children teachers whose habits 
and character are in all respects what they are willing 
their children should form. If they neglect to do this, 
the utmost they can reasonably expect is that their 
children will become what the teacher is. 

The principle that repetition is necessary in order to 
make a durable impression on the organ of the mind, 
and thus constitute a mental habit, explains how natural 
endowments are modified by external situation. The 
extent to which this modification may be carried, and 



INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL EDUCATION. 143 

is actually carried in every community, is much great- 
er than most persons are aware of. Take a child, for 
example, of average propensities, sentiments, and intel- 
lect, and place him among a class of people in whom 
the selfish faculties are exclusively exercised — a class 
who regard gain as the end of life, and look upon cun- 
ning and cheating as legitimate means, and who never 
express disapprobation or moral indignation against 
either crime or selfishness — and his lower faculties, be- 
ing exclusively exercised, will increase in strength, 
while the higher ones, remaining unemployed, will be- 
come enfeebled. A child thus situated will, conse- 
quently, not only act as those around him do, but in- 
sensibly grow up resembling them in disposition and 
character; for, by the law of repetition, the organs of 
the selfish qualities will have acquired proportionally 
greater aptitude and vigor, just as do the muscles of 
the fencer or dancer. But suppose the same individ- 
ual placed, from infancy, in the society of a superiorly 
endowed moral and intellectual people, the moral facul- 
ties will then be habitually excited, and their organs 
invigorated by repetition, till a greater aptitude will be 
induced in them, or, in other words, till a higher moral 
character will be formed. The natural endowments 
of individuals set limits to these modifications of char- 
acter ; but where original dispositions and tendencies 
are not strongly marked, the range is very wide. 

In the cultivation of the brain and mental faculties, 
each organ should be exercised directly upon its own 
appropriate objects, and not merely roused or address- 
ed through the medium of another organ. When we 
wish to teach the graceful and rapid evolutions of fenc- 
ing, we do not content ourselves with merely giving 
directions, but our chief attention is employed in mak- 
ing the muscles themselves go through the evolutions, 



144 THE NATURE OF 

till, by frequent repetition and correction, they acquire 
the requisite quickness and precision of action. So, 
when we wish to teach music, we do not merely ad- 
dress the understanding and explain the qualities of 
sounds. We train the ear to an attentive discrimina- 
tion of these sounds, and the hand or the vocal organs, 
as the case may be, to the reproduction of the motions 
which call them into existence. We follow this plan, 
because the laws of organization require the direct 
practice of the organs concerned, and we feel instinct- 
ively that we can succeed only by obeying these laws. 
The purely mental faculties are connected during life 
with material organs, and are hence subjected to pre- 
cisely the same laws. If, therefore, we wish to im- 
prove these faculties— the reasoning powers, for exam- 
ple — we must exercise them regularly in tracing the 
cause and relations of things. In like manner, if our 
aim is the development of the sentiments of attachment, 
benevolence, justice, or respect, we must exercise each 
of them directly and for its own sake, otherwise nei- 
ther it nor its organ will ever acquire promptitude or 
strength. 

It is the brain, or organ of the mind, more than the 
abstract immaterial principle itself, that requires culti- 
vation, or can, indeed, receive it in this life. Educa- 
tion hence operates invariably in subjection to the laws 
of organization. In improving the external senses, we 
admit this principle readily enough ; but when we 
come to the internal faculties of thought and feeling, it 
is either denied or neglected. That the superior quick- 
ness of touch, sight, and hearing, consequent upon judi- 
cious exercisers referable to increased facility of ac- 
tion in their appropriate organs, is readily admitted. 
But when we explain, on the same principle, the supe- 
rior development of the reasoning powers, or the great- 



INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL EDUCATION. 145 

er warmth of feeling produced by similar exercise in 
these and other internal faculties, few are inclined to 
listen to our proposition, or allow to it half the weight 
or attention its importance demands, although every 
fact in philosophy and experience concurs in support- 
ing it. We see the mental powers of feeling and of 
thought unfolding themselves in infancy and youth in 
exact accordance with the progress of the organization. 
We see them perverted or suspended by the sudden in- 
road of disease. We sometimes observe every previ- 
ous acquirement obliterated from the adult mind by 
fever or by accident, leaving education to be commen- 
ced anew, as if it had never been ; and yet, with all 
these evidences of the organic influence, the proposi- 
tion that the established laws of physiology, as applied 
to the brain, should be considered our best and surest 
guide in education, seems to many a novelty. Among 
the numerous treatises on education, there are very 
few volumes in which it is even hinted that, these laws 
have the slightest influence over either intellectual or 
moral improvement. 

As God has given us bones and muscles, and blood- 
vessels and nerves, for the purpose of being used, let 
us not despise the gift, but consent at once to turn them 
to account, and to reap health and vigor as the reward 
which he has associated with moderate labor. As he 
has given us lungs to breathe with and blood to circu- 
late, let us at once and forever abandon the folly of 
shutting ourselves up with little intermission, whether 
engaged in study or other sedentary occupations, and 
consent to inhale, copiously and freely, that wholesome 
atmosphere which his benevolence has spread around 
us in such rich profusion. As he has given us appe- 
tites and organs of digestion, let us profit by his bounty, 
and earn their enjoyment by healthful exercise in some 

G 



146 THE EDUCATION OF 

department of productive industry. As he has given 
us a moral and a social nature, which is invigorated by 
activity, and impaired by solitude and restraint, let us 
cultivate good feelings, and act toward each other on 
principles of kindness, justice, forbearance, and mutual 
assistance ; and as he has given us intellect, let us ex- 
ercise it in seeking a knowledge of his works and of 
his laws, and in tracing out the relation in which we 
stand toward him, toward our fellow-men, and toward 
the various objects of the external world. In so doing, 
we may be well assured we shall find a reward a thou- 
sand times more rich and pure, yea, infinitely more de- 
lightful and enduring, than we can hope to experience 
in following our own blind devices, regardless of his 
will and benevolent intentions toward us. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE EDUCATION OF THE FIVE SENSES. 

If the eye be obstructed, the ear opens wide its portals, and hears 
your very emotions in the varying tones of your voice ; if the ear be 
stopped, the quickened eye will almost read the words as they fall from 
your lips; and if both be close sealed up, the whole body becomes like 
a sensitive plant — the quickened skin perceives the very vibrations of 
the air, and you may even write your thoughts upon it, and receive 
answers from the sentient soul within. — Annual Report of the Trus- 
tees of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind, 
1841. 

He who formed man of the dust of the earth, and 
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, has honored 
his material organs by associating them with the im- 
material soul. In this life the senses constitute the great 
conveyances of knowledge to the human mind. It 
then becomes not only a legitimate object of inquiry, 



THE FIVE SENSto. 147 

but one which commends itself to every human being, 
and especially to every parent and teacher, Can these 
senses be improved by human interference? And if 
so, how can that improvement be best effected ? 

The senses are the interpreters between the material 
universe without and the spirit within. Without the 
celestial machinery of sensation, man must have ever 
remained what Adam was before the Almighty breathed 
into his form of clay the awakening breath of life. The 
dormant energies of the mind can be aroused, and the 
soul can be put into mysterious communion with exter- 
nal nature only by the magical power of sensation. 

The possession of all the corporeal senses, and their 
systematic and judicious culture by all proper ap- 
pliances, are necessary in order to place man in such 
a relation to the material universe and its great Archi- 
tect as most fully and successfully to cultivate the 
varied capabilities of his nature, and best to subserve 
the purposes of his creation. He who is deprived of 
the healthful exercise of one or more of his senses, or, 
possessing them all unimpaired, has neglected their 
proper culture, is, from the nature of the case, in a pro- 
portionate degree cut off from a knowledge of God as 
manifested in his works, and from that happiness which 
is the legitimate fruit of such knowledge. 

Much light has been thrown upon this subject with- 
in a few years by the judicious labors of that class of 
practical educators who have devoted their lives to the 
amelioration of the condition of persons deprived of 
one or more of the senses. It is difficult to conceive 
the real condition of the minds of persons thus situated, 
and especially while they remain uneducated. He 
who is deprived of the sense of sight has the windows 
of his soul closed, and is effectually shut out from this 
world of light and beauty. In like manner, he who is 



148 THE EDUCATION OF 

deprived of the sense of hearing is excluded from the 
world of music and of speech. What, then, must be 
the condition of persons deprived of both of these senses? 
How desolate and cheerless ! Yet some such there are. 

While on a visit to the Asylum for the Blind, in Bos- 
ton, a few months ago, I met two of this unfortunate 
class of persons — Laura Bridgman and Oliver Caswell. 
Laura has been several years connected with the in- 
stitution. 

Laura Bridgman, the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Girl. 
• — So remarkable is the case of this interesting girl, so 
full of interest, so replete with instruction, and in every 
way so admirably adapted to illustrate the subject of 
this chapter, that I proceed to give to my readers a 
sketch of the method pursued in her instruction, to- 
gether with the results attendant upon it. My informa- 
tion in relation to her is derived from both personal ac- 
quaintance and the reports of her case, though princi- 
pally from the latter source. 

Laura was born in Hanover, New Hampshire, on 
the 21st of December, 1829. She is described as hav- 
ing been a very sprightly and pretty infant. During 
the first years of her existence she held her life by the 
feeblest tenure, being subject to severe fits, which seem- 
ed to rack her frame almost beyond the power of en- 
durance. At the age of four years her bodily health 
seemed restored ; but what a situation was hers ! The 
darkness and silence of the tomb were around her. 
No mother's smile called forth her answering smile. 
No father's voice taught her to imitate his sounds. To 
her, brothers and sisters were but forms of matter which 
resisted her touch, but which hardly differed from the 
furniture of the house save in warmth and in the pow- 
er of locomotion, and not even in these respects from 
the dog and the cat. But the immortal spirit implanted 



THE FIVE SENSES. 149 

within her could not die, nor could it be maimed or 
mutilated ; and, though most of its avenues of commu- 
nication with the world were cut off, it began to mani- 
fest itself through the others. As soon as she could 
walk, she began to explore the room, and then the 
house. She thus soon became familiar with the form, 
density, weight, and heat of every article she could lay 
her hands upon. She followed her mother, and felt of 
her hands and arms, as she w T as occupied about the 
house, and her disposition to imitate led her to repeat 
every thing herself. She even learned to sew a little 
and to knit. 

Her affections, too, began to expand, and seemed to 
be lavished upon the members of her family with pe- 
culiar force. But the means of communication with 
her were very limited. She could be told to go to a 
place only by being pushed, or to come to one by a 
sign of drawing her. Patting her gently on the head 
signified approbation, on the back disapprobation. She 
showed every disposition to learn, and manifestly began 
to use a natural language of her own. She had a sign 
to express her idea of each member of the family, as 
drawing her fingers down each side of her face to al- 
lude to the whiskers of one, twirling her hand around 
in imitation of the motion of a spinning-wheel for an- 
other, and so on. But, although Laura received all the 
aid a kind mother could bestow, she soon began to give 
proof of the importance of language in the development 
of human character. By the time she was seven years 
old the moral effects of her privation began to appeal", 
for there was no wav of controlling her will but bv the 
absolute power of another, and at this humanity revolts. 

At this time, Dr. Samuel G. Howe, the distinguished 
and successful director of the asylum, learned of her 
situation, and hastened to see her. He found her with 



150 THE EDUCATION OF 

a well-formed figure, a strongly-marked nervous-san- 
guine temperament, a large and beautifully shaped head, 
and the whole system in healthy action. Here seemed 
a rare opportunity of trying a plan for the education 
of a deaf and blind person, which the doctor had formed 
on seeing Julia Brace at Hartford. The parents read- 
ily consented to her going to the institution in Boston, 
where Laura was received in October, 1837, just before 
she had completed her eighth year. For a while she 
was much bewildered. After waiting about two weeks, 
and until she became acquainted with her new locality, 
and somewhat familiar with the inmates, the attempt 
was made to give her a knowledge of arbitrary signs, 
by which she could interchange thoughts with others. 
One of two methods was to be adopted. Either the 
language of signs, on the basis of the natural language 
she had already commenced herself, was to be built 
up, or it remained to teach her the purely arbitrary lan- 
guage in common use. The former would have been 
easy, but very ineffectual. The latter, although very 
difficult, if accomplished, would prove vastly superior. 
It was therefore determined upon. 

The blind learn to read bv means of raised letters, 
which they gain a knowledge of by the sense of feeling. 
The ends of the fingers, resting upon the raised letters, 
thus constitute, in part, the eyes of the blind. This, 
although apparently difficult, becomes comparatively 
easy when the blind person possesses the sense of hear- 
ing, and is thus enabled to become acquainted with 
spoken language. On the contrary, the deaf, and con- 
sequently dumb, are unable to acquire a knowledge of 
spoken language so as to use it with any degree of suc- 
cess. In their education, hence, the language of signs, 
which can be addressed to the eye, is substituted for 
spoken language. In communicating with one another, 



THE FIVE SENSES. 151 

by means of the manual alphabet, they substitute posi- 
tions of the hand, which they can both make and see, 
for letters and words, which they can neither pronounce 
nor hear. 

To be deprived of either sight or hearing was for- 
merly regarded as an almost insuperable obstacle in 
the way of education. Persons deprived of both these 
senses have heretofore been considered by high legal 
authorities,* as well as by public opinion, as occupy- 
ing, of necessity, a state of irresponsible and irrecover- 
able idiocy. By the education of the remaining senses, 
however, this formidable and heretofore insuperable 
barrier has been overleaped, or, rather, the obstacle 
has been met and overcome. The experiment has been 
successfully tried, once and again, in our own country. 
The deaf and blind mute has not only acquired a knowl- 
edge of reading and writing, and of the common branch- 
es of education, but has been enabled successfully to 
prosecute the study of natural philosophy, of mental 
science, and of geometry. The accomplishment of all 
this has resulted from the successful cultivation of the 
sense of touch or of feeling. The raised letter of the 
blind has been used for written language, and the man- 
ual language of the mute, taken by the finger-eyes of 
the blind, has been successfully substituted for spoken 
language. 

Laura's mind dwelt in darkness and silence. In 
order, therefore, to communicate to her a knowledge 
of the arbitrary language in common use, it was neces- 

* A man is not an idiot if he hath any glimmering of reason, so that 
be can tell his parents, his age, or the like matters. But a man who is 
born deaf, dumb, and blind, is looked upon by the law as in the same 
state with an idiot, he being supposed incapable of any understanding, 
as wanting all the senses which furnish the human mind with ideas. — 
Blackstonds Commentaries, vol. i., p. 304. 



152 THE EDUCATION OP 

sary to combine the methods of instructing the blind 
and the deaf. The first experiments in instructing her 
were made by taking articles in common use, such as 
knives, forks, spoons, keys, etc., and pasting upon them 
labels with their names printed in raised letters. These 
she felt of very carefully, and soon, of course, distin- 
guished that the crooked lines spoon differed as much 
from the crooked lines key, as the spoon differed from 
the key in form. Small detached labels, with the same 
words printed upon them, were then put into her hands, 
and she soon observed that they were similar to those 
pasted on the articles. She showed her perception of 
this similarity by laying the label key upon the key, 
and the label spoon upon the spoon. When this was 
done she was encouraged by the natural sign of appro- 
bation — patting on the head. 

The same process was then repeated with all the 
articles which she could handle, and she very easily 
learned to place the proper labels upon them. After 
a while, instead of labels, the individual letters were 
given to her, on detached bits of paper. These were 
at first arranged side by side, so as to spell book, key, 
etc. They were then mixed up, and a sign was made 
for her to arrange them herself, so as to express the 
words book, key, etc., and she did so. 

The process of instruction, hitherto, had been me- 
chanical, and the success attending it about as great 
as that in teaching a very knowing dog a variety of 
tricks. The poor child sat in mute amazement, and 
patiently imitated every thing her teacher did. Pres- 
ently the truth began to flash upon her; her intellect 
began to work ; she perceived that here was a way by 
which she could herself make up a sign of any thing 
that was in her own mind, and show it to another mind, 
and at once her countenance lighted up with a human 



THE FIVE SENSES. 153 

expression ! her immortal spirit eagerly seizing upon 
a new link of union with other spirits ! Dr. Howe 
says he could almost fix upon the moment when this 
truth dawned upon her mind and spread its light to her 
countenance. He saw at once that nothing but patient 
and persevering, but judicious efforts were needed in 
her instruction, and that these would most assuredly 
be crowned with success. 

It is difficult to form a just conception of the amount 
of labor bestowed upon Laura thus far. In communi- 
cating with her, spoken language could not be used 
for she was destitute of hearing. Neither are signs of 
any use when addressed to the eyes of the blind. 
When, therefore, it was said that " a sign was made," 
we are to understand by it that the action was perform- 
ed by her teacher, she feeling of his hands, and then 
imitating the motion. The next step in the process of 
her instruction was to procure a set of metal types, 
with the different letters of the alphabet cast upon their 
ends ; also a board, in which were square holes, into 
which she could set the types so that the letters on the 
end could alone be felt above the surface. Then, on 
any article being handed to her whose name she had 
learned — a pencil or a watch, for instance — she would 
select the component letters and arrange them on her 
board, and read them with apparent pleasure. 

When she had been exercised in this way for sev- 
eral weeks, and until her knowledge of words had be- 
come considerably extensive, the important step was 
taken of teaching her how to represent the different 
letters, by the position of her fingers, instead of the 
cumbrous apparatus of the board and types. This she 
accomplished speedily and easily, for her intellect had 
begun to work in aid of her teacher, and her progress 
was rapid. 

G2 



154 THE EDUCATION OF 

Six months after Laura had left home her mother 
went to visit her. The scene of their meeting was full 
of interest. The mother stood some time gazing with' 
overflowing eyes upon her unfortunate child, who, all 
unconscious of her presence, was playing about the 
room. Presently Laura ran against her, anoV at once 
began feeling of her hands, examining her dress, and 
trying to find out if she knew her ; but, not succeeding 
in this, she turned away as from a stranger, and the 
poor woman could not conceal the pang she felt at 
finding her beloved child did not know her. She then 
gave Laura a string of beads which she used to wear 
at home. These were at once recognized by the child, 
who gave satisfactory indications that she understood 
they were from home. The mother now tried to 
caress her ; but Laura repelled her, preferring to be 
with her acquaintances. 

Other articles from home were then given to Laura, 
and she began to look much interested ; she examined 
the stranger much closer, and gave the doctor to un- 
derstand she knew they came from Hanover ; she now 
even endured her mother's caresses, but would leave her 
with indifference at the slightest signal. After a while, 
on the mother taking hold of her again, a vague idea 
seemed to flit across Laura's mind that this could not 
be a stranger ; she therefore felt of her hands very 
eagerly, while her countenance assumed an expression 
of intense interest ; she became very pale, and then 
suddenly red ; hope seemed struggling with doubt and 
anxietv, and never were contending emotions more 
strongly painted upon the human face. At this mo- 
ment of painful uncertainty, the mother drew Laura 
close to her side, and kissed her fondly, when at once 
the truth flashed upon the child, and all distrust and 
anxiety disappeared from her face. With an expres- 



THE FIVE SENSES. 155 

sion of exceeding joy, Laura nestled to the bosom of 
her parent, and yielded herself to her fond embraces. 
After this the beads were all unheeded, and the play- 
things which were offered to her were utterly disregard- 
ed. Her playmates, for whom she but a moment be- 
fore left the stranger, now vainly strove to pull her from 
her mother. The meeting and subsequent parting 
showed alike the affection, the intelligence, and the 
resolution of the child as well as of her mother. 

The following facts are drawn from the report made 
of her case at the end of the year 1839, after she had 
been a little more than two years under instruction. 
Having mastered the manual alphabet of the deaf 
mutes, and having learned to spell readily the names 
of every thing within her reach, she was then taught 
words expressive of positive qualities, as hardness and 
softness. This was a very difficult process. She was 
next taught those expressions of relation to place which 
she could understand. A ring, for example, was taken 
and placed on a box; then the words were spelled to her, 
and she repeated them from imitation. The ring was 
afterward placed on a hat, desk, etc. In a similar man- 
ner she learned the use of in, into, etc. She would il- 
lustrate the use of these and other words as follows : 
She would spell on, and then lay one hand on the 
other ; then she would spell into, and inclose one 
hand within the other. 

Laura very easily acquired a knowledge and use of 
active verbs, especially those expressive of tangible ac- 
tion, as to walk, to run, to sew, to shake. In acquir- 
ing a knowledge of language, she used the words with 
which she had become acquainted in a general sense, 
and according to the order of her sense of ideas. Thus, 
in asking some one to give her bread, she would first 
use the word expressive of the leading idea, and say, 



156 THE EDUCATION OF 

Bread, give, Laura. If she wanted water, she would 
say. Water, drink, Laura. 

Having acquired the use of substantives, adjectives, 
verbs, prepositions, and conjunctions, it was thought 
time to make the experiment of trying to teach her to 
write, and to show her she might communicate her 
ideas to persons not in contact with her. It was 
amusing to witness the mute amazement with which 
she submitted to the process ; the docility with which 
she imitated every motion, and the perseverance with 
which she moved her pencil over and over again in 
the same track, until she could form the letter. But 
when at last the idea dawned upon her that by this 
mysterious process she could make other people under- 
stand what she thought, her joy was boundless ! Never 
did a child apply more eagerly and joyfully to any 
task than she did to this ; and in a few months she 
could make every letter distinctly, and separate words 
from each other. 

At this time Laura actually wrote, unaided, a legible 
letter to her mother, in which she expressed the idea 
of her being well, and of her expectation of going home 
in a few weeks. It was, indeed, a very rude and im- 
perfect letter, couched in the language which a prat- 
tling infant would use. Still, it shadowed forth and 
expressed to her mother the ideas that were passing in 
her own mind. She had attained about the same com- 
mand of language as common children three years of 
age. But her power of expression was, of course, by 
no means equal to her power of conception ; for she 
had no words to express many of the perceptions and 
sensations which her mind doubtless experienced. In 
the spring of 1840. when she had been under instruc- 
tion about two and a half years, returning fatigued from 
her journey home, she complained of a pain in her side, 



THE FIVE SENSES. 157 

/ 

and on being asked what caused it, she replied as fol- 
lows : " Laura did go to see mother, ride did make 
Laura side ache, horse was wrong, did not run softly." 
Her improvement in the use of language was very 
rapid, and she soon became, in some respects, quite a 
critic. When one of the girls had the mumps, Laura 
learned the name of the disease ; soon after she had it 
herself, but she had the swelling only on one side ; and 
some one saying to her, " You have got the mumps," 
she replied*quickly, "No, no ; I have mump." 

About this time Laura learned the difference between 
the present and past tense of the verb. And here her 
simplicity rebukes the clumsy irregularities of our lan- 
guage. She learned jump, jumped — -walk, walked, etc., 
until she had an idea of the mode of forming the imper- 
fect tense of regular verbs ; but when she came to the 
word see, she insisted that it should be seed in the im- 
perfect ; and upon going down to dinner, she asked if 
it was eat, eated ; but being told it was eat, ate, she 
seemed to try to express the idea that this transposi- 
tion of the letters was not only wrong, but ludicrous, 
for she laughed heartily. She continued this habit of 
forming words analogically. When she had become 
acquainted with the meaning of the word restless, she 
seemed to understand that less at the end of a word 
means without, destitute of, or wanting, as rest-less, 
fruit-less ; also that Jul at the end of a word expresses 
abundance of what is implied by the primitive, as 
bliss-ful, play-ful. This is clearly illustrated in the fol- 
lowing expressions. One day, feeling weak, she said, 
" I am very strongless." Being told this was not right, 
she said, " Why, you say restless when I do not sit still." 
Then she said, " I am very weakful." 

My primary object in referring to Laura has been 
to illustrate, in a striking manner, the practicability of 



158 THE EDUCATION OF 

the education of the senses to an extent not heretofore 
generally known. To such an .extent has the sense of 
touch been cultivated in her, that her fingers serve as 
very good substitutes for both eyes and ears. I will 
mention one or two instances which strikingly illustrate 
the acuteness of Laura's sense of touch. When I was 
at the institution a few months ago, she was told a per- 
son was present whom she had never met, and who 
wished an introduction to her. She reached her hand, 
expecting to meet a stranger. By mistake (for her 
teachers design never to allow her to be deceived), she 
took the hand of another gentleman, whom she recog- 
nized immediately, though she had never met him but 
twice before. She recognizes her acquaintances in an 
instant by touching their hands or their dress, and 
there are probably hundreds of individuals who, if they 
were to stand in a row, and hold out each a hand to 
her, would be recognized by that alone. The mem- 
ory of these sensations is very vivid, and she will read- 
ily recognize a person whom she has once thus touched. 
Many cases of this kind have been noticed ; such as a 
person shaking hands with her, and making a peculiar 
pressure with one finger, and repeating this on his sec- 
ond visit, after a lapse of many months, being instantly 
known by her. She has been known to recognize per- 
sons with whom she had thus simply shaken hands but 
once, after a lapse of six months. But this is hardly 
more wonderful than that one should be able to recall 
impressions made upon the mind through the organ of 
sight, as when we recognize a person of whom we have 
had but one glimpse a year before ; but it shows the 
exhaustless capacity of those organs which the Creator 
has bestowed, as it were, in reserve against accidents, 
and which we too commonly allow to lie unused and 
unvalued. 



THE FIVE SENSES. 159 

Oliver Caswell. — Had I not devoted so much space 
to this subject already, it would be interesting to con- 
sider the case of Oliver, who, like Laura, is deaf, dumb, 
and blind. His experience is full of interest, though 
less striking than that already presented. His progress 
in learning language, and in acquiring intellectual 
knowledge, is comparatively slow, because he has not 
that fineness of fiber and that activity of temperament 
which enable Laura to struggle so successfully against 
the immense disadvantages under which they both la- 
bor. Oliver is a boy of rather unfavorable organiza- 
tion ; he had been deaf and blind from infancy ; he re- 
ceived no instruction until he was twelve years old, 
and consequently lost the most precious years for learn- 
ing ; he has nevertheless been taught to express his 
thoughts both by the finger language and by writing ; 
he has also become acquainted with the rudiments of 
the common branches of education, and is intelligent 
and morally responsible. His case proves, therefore, 
very clearly, that the success of the attempt made to 
instruct Laura Bridgman was not owing solely to her 
uncommon capacity. 

Oliver's natural ability is small, and his acquired 
knowledge very limited ; but his sense of right and 
wrong, his obedience to moral obligations, and his at- 
tachment to friends, are very remarkable.* He never 
willfully violates the rights or injures the feelings of 

* I have omitted much in the case of Laura that I should have re- 
tained but for want of room. The moral qualities of her nature have 
developed themselves most clearly. She is honest to a proverb, having 
never been known to take any thing belonging to another. That she 
is a Christian there can be no doubt. It is said in the report of her 
case for 1846, that " on the last occasion of her manifesting any impa- 
tience, she said to Miss Wight, her teacher, ' I felt cross, but in a minute 
I thought of Christ, how good and gentle he was, and my bad feelings 
went aivay.' " „ 



160 THE EDUCATION OF 

others, and seldom shows any signs of temper when 
his own seem to be invaded. He even bears the teas- 
ing of little boys with gentleness and patience. He is 
very tractable, and always obeys respectfully the re- 
quests of his teacher. This shows the effect which 
Kind and gentle treatment has had upon his character, 
for when he first went to the institution in Boston he 
was sometimes very willful, and showed occasional out- 
bursts of temper which were fearfully violent. " It 
seems hardly possible," says Dr. Howe, " that the gen- 
tle and affectionate youth, who loves all the household 
and is beloved by all in return, should be the same who 
a few years ago scratched and bit, like a young savage, 
those who attempted to control him." 

We regard it as a fact fully established that the 
sense of touch mav be cultivated to a much greater 
extent than most persons are aware of. The same re- 
mark will apply to the cultivation of all the senses. We 
shall consider them separately. 

The Sense of Touch. — The remarks already made 
apply chiefly to this sense. The nerves that supply it 
proceed from the anterior half of the spinal cord. This 
sense is most delicate where there are the greatest 
number of nervous filaments, and those of the largest 
size. The hands, and especially the fingers, have a 
most delicate and nice sense of touch, though the sense 
is extended over the whole body, in every part of which 
it is less or more acute. In this respect, then, this sense 
is unlike the others, which are confined to small spaces, 
as we shall see when we come to consider them. The 
action of the sensitive nerves depends upon the state 
of the brain, and the condition of the system generally. 
In sound and perfect sleep, when the brain is inactive, 
ordinary impressions made upon the skin are unob- 
served. Fear and grief diminish the impressibility of 



THE FIVE SENSES. 161 

this tissue, while hope and joy increase it. The quan- 
tity and quality of the blood also influence sensation. 
If this vital fluid becomes impure, or its quantity is di- 
minished, the sensibility of the skin will be impaired 
thereby. Whatever affects the general health affects 
the healthy action of this sense. It is also much affect- 
ed by sudden changes in temperature. If the skin is 
wounded while under the influence of cold, the pain 
will be slight. By carrying this chilling influence too 
far, the surface becomes entirely destitute of sensation. 
This is produced by the contraction of the blood-ves- 
sels upon the surface. On the contrary, when the 
chilled extremities are suddenly exposed to heat, the 
rapid enlargement of the contracted blood-vessels ex- 
cites the nerves unduly, which causes the pain ex- 
perienced on such occasions. 

The sensibility of the nerves depends much upon the 
habits of persons. Suppose two boys go out to play 
when the thermometer stands at the freezing point, and 
that one of them has been, accustomed to exercise in 
the open air, and to practice daily ablution, while the 
other one has been confined most of the time to a warm 
room, and has been accustomed to wash only his hands 
and face. The skin of the former, other things being 
equal, will be active and healthy, while that of the lat- 
ter will be enfeebled and diseased. The organs of 
touch diffused over the body at the surface will be 
very differently affected in these two boys, and the per- 
ceptions of their minds will be alike dissimilar. One 
will be roused to action, and will feel just right for some 
animating game. Both body and mind will be elastic 
and joyous. He will bound like the roe, make the 
welkin ring with his merry shout, and return to the 
bosom of his family with a gladdened heart, ready to 
impart and receive pleasure, while the other boy will 



162 THE EDUCATION OF 

be too keenly affected by the contact of the air, and 
think it too cold to stay out of doors. He will thrust 
his hands into his pockets, and curl himself up like one 
decrepit with age. His teeth will chatter and his whole 
frame tremble. Of course, very different reflections 
will be awakened in his mind. He will hurry back to 
the fireside, thinking winter a very dismal season, and 
will be apt to fret himself and all about him, because 
of the confinement from which he has not the resolu- 
tion to break out. 

The sensibility of the cutaneous nerves in these two 
cases depends upon the habits of the persons. If the 
latter would practice frequent ablutions, and excite a 
healthy action in the skin by friction and exercise, and 
conform to other laws of health, he would experience 
all that gladness of heart, and elasticity of body and 
mind, which the other is supposed to enjoy. Hence 
the advantages resulting from a strict conformity to 
the laws of health in this particular as well as in others 
that are generally regarded as more important. 

The general law that the exercise of a. faculty in- 
creases its power is applicable to the senses. We have 
referred to the blind, who read as rapidly as seeing 
persons by passing their fingers over raised letters, the 
sense of touch being substituted by them for that of 
vision. Nor is the education of this sense useful to 
the blind merely. It may frequently be appealed to 
with great advantage by all who have cultivated it. 
The miller, for example, can judge more accurately of 
the quality of flour and meal, by passing some be- 
tween his fingers than by the exercise of vision. The 
cloth-dresser, also, by the aid of this sense, not only 
marks the nicest shades of texture in examining cloths 
of different qualities, but in many instances learns to 
distinguish colors by the sense of touch with per- 



THE FIVE SENSES. 163 

haps greater accuracy than is common with seeing 
persons. 

The Sense of Taste. — The sense of taste bears the 
greatest resemblance to the sense of feeling. The 
upper surface of the tongue is the principal agent in 
tasting, though the lips, the palate, and the internal 
surface of the cheeks participate in this function, as 
does the upper part of the oesophagus. The multitude 
of points called papillae, scattered over the upper sur- 
face of the tongue, constitute the more immediate seat 
of this sense. It is in these sensitive papillae that the 
ramifications of the gustatory or tasting nerves termin- 
ate. When fluids are taken into the mouth, and espe- 
cially those whose taste is pungent, these papillae di- 
late and erect themselves, and the particular sensation 
produced is transmitted to the brain through the me- 
dium of the minute filaments of the gustatory nerves. 

In order fully to gratify the taste in eating dry, solid 
food, it is necessary that the food be first reduced to a 
liquid state, or, at least, that it be thoroughly moistened. 
Nature has made full provision for this in furnishing 
the mouth with salivary glands, whose secretions are 
most abundant when engaged in masticating dry, hard 
substances. These quickened secretions contribute to 
gratify the taste and increase the pleasure of eating, 
and, at the same time, materially aid in the important 
processes of mastication and digestion. Nature, also, 
with her accustomed bounty, has furnished man with 
a great variety of articles for food. By this means the 
various tastes of different persons may be gratified, al- 
though, in many instances, those articles of food which 
are most agreeable to some persons are extremely dis- 
agreeable to others. 

Many persons can not eat the most nourishing food, 
as fruits, butter, etc., because to them the taste of these 



164 THE EDUCATION OF 

articles is disagreeable. But this is very easily ac- 
counted for, as in the mouth the food mixes with va- 
rious fluids that differ in different persons, and in the 
same person at different times. These fluids, and par- 
ticularly the saliva, assist in the formation and change 
of taste. This accounts not only for the different tastes 
of different persons, but also for the varying taste of the 
same persons, and for that fickleness of taste which is 
so common in sickness, when the fluids of the mouth, 
in a disordered and deranged state, mix with the food, 
and produce the disagreeable taste so often complained 
of at such times, and which, moreover, occasionally 
create a permanent dislike for food that was previously 
much relished. 

This sense was given to men and animals to guide 
them in the selection of their food, and to enable them 
to guard against the use of articles that would be in- 
jurious if introduced into the stomach. In the inferior 
animals, the sense of taste still answers the original de- 
sign of its bestowment ; but in man, it has been abused 
and perverted by the use of artificial stimulants, which 
have created an acquired taste that, in most persons, is 
very detrimental to health. This sense is so modified 
by habit, that, not unfrequently, articles which were at 
first exceedingly offensive, become, at length, highly 
agreeable. It is in this manner that many persons, 
whose sense of taste has been impaired or perverted, 
have formed the disgusting and ruinous habits of smok- 
ing and chewing tobacco, and of using stimulating and 
intoxicating drinks. But these pernicious habits, and 
all similar indulgences, lessen the sensibility of the gus- 
tatory nerve, and ultimately destroy the natural relish 
for healthful food and drink. By this means, also, the 
digestive powers become disordered, and the general 
health is materially impaired. All persons, then, should 



THE FIVE SENSES. 165 

seek to preserve the natural integrity of this sense, and 
to restore it immediately to healthy action when at all 
depraved, for upon this depends much of health and 
longevity, of happiness and usefulness. 

This sense may be rendered very acute by cultiva- 
tion, as is illustrated by persons who are accustomed 
to taste medicines, liquors, teas, etc. It ought, how- 
ever, to be chiefly exercised in partaking of those simple 
articles of food and drink which are most conducive to 
health. In its natural state it prefers these, and if de- 
praved it will soon recover a healthy tone, if not con- 
tinually tempted by stimulating substances. This is 
beautifully illustrated in thousands of instances all over 
our country by persons who were once accustomed to 
use strong drink, but who have substituted for it spark- 
ling water, a beverage prepared by God himself to 
nourish and invigorate his creatures, and beautify his 
footstool. 

The Sense of Smell. — The sense of taste has re- 
ceived a faithful companion in that of smell. The be- 
neficent Creator, with that wisdom which characterizes 
all his works, has very wisely placed the organ of this 
sense just above the mouth, in order that the scent of 
many things that are hurtful may warn us from par- 
taking of them before they reach the mouth. The air- 
passages of the nose, in which this sense is located, are 
lined with a thin skin, called the mucous membrane, 
which is continuous with the lining membrane of the 
parts of. the throat and of the external skin. Upon this 
membrane the olfactory nerve ramifies. The odorif- 
erous particles of matter that float in the air come in 
contact with these fine and sensitive nerves as the air 
rushes through the nostrils, and the impression is con- 
veyed to the brain by the olfactory nerve. The mu- 
cous membrane, upon which this ramifies, is of consid- 



166 THE EDUCATION OF 

erable extent in man. In the lower animals it is less 
or more extensive, according to the degree of acute- 
ness of this sense. This membrane is full of little 
glands that are continually giving off thick mucus, and 
especially when the membrane is inflamed. There is 
a small canal leading from the eyes to the nose, through 
which a fluid, that also forms tears, is constantly pass- 
ing when the passage is clear. It is the office of this 
fluid to moisten and thin the mucus of the nose. When 
this mucous is too abundant, as in some stages of a cold, 
and especially if it becomes dry from the closing of the 
canal leading from the eyes, or from any other cause, 
as fever, the sense of smell will be greatly impaired, if 
not entirely suspended. It is, indeed, not unfrequently 
permanently injured in this way, and sometimes is irre- 
coverably lost. 

The sensation of smell, it should be borne in mind, 
is produced by a kind of odoriferous vapor, very fine 
and invisible, that flies off from nearly all bodies. The 
air which contains this vapor is drawn into the nose, 
and is in this way brought into contact with the very 
delicate nerves of smell that ramify the membrane 
which lines the air-passages of this organ. It is only 
when the exceedingly small particles of which the odor 
of various bodies is composed come in contact with the 
minute ramifications of the olfactory nerve that this 
sensation is produced. In order to protect these sen- 
sitive nerves, as well as to prevent the introduction into 
the lungs of injurious substances, the air-passages of 
the nose are furnished with hairy appendages, which 
are less or more abundant according to the size of these 
passages. These intercept any foreign substances that 
enter the nose, and thus irritate the mucous membrane, 
and cause a quick and powerful contraction of the dia- 
phragm, by which the offending matter is immediately 



THE FIVE SENSES. 107 

expelled. This phenomenon, which is called sneezing, 
depends upon a connection of the olfactory with the 
respiratory nerves. 

This sense not only comes in to the aid of taste in 
enabling man and the lower animals to select proper 
food, and avoid that which is injurious, but it also gives 
us positive and varied pleasure by the inhalation of 
agreeable odors, while, at the same time, it enables us 
to avoid an infectious atmosphere, and all objects whose 
odors are offensive and hurtful. 

It is true that man can accustom himself to nearly 
all kinds of odor, even to those that at first are very 
disagreeable. He indeed not unfrequently so vitiates 
the sense of smell as actually to prefer those scents 
which, to persons who have preserved the integrity of 
this sense, are regarded as exceedingly offensive, and 
even filthy. But why, let me ask, did the Creator give 
us the sense of smell ? Was it to be thus perverted ? 
No, indeed : it was, without doubt, that we might enjoy 
the refreshing fragrance of flowers and herbs, of food 
and drink ; and also that we might distinguish between 
air that is pure and healthful, and that which is impure 
and infectious. As most articles of food which are 
agreeable to the smell are wholesome, and as those 
which are disagreeable are generally unwholesome, so, 
also, those states of the atmosphere which are grateful 
to this sense are salubrious, and those odors which are 
pleasant are healthful, while air which is ungrateful 
will generally be found injurious to health, as will also 
all those odors which are unpleasant to this sense when 
in a healthful state. He who has had occasion to entei 
a crowded court-room, lecture-room, church, or assem- 
bly-room of whatever kind, which has been occupied 
for a considerable time without adequate ventilation, 
can not fail to remember the unwelcome impression 



168 THE EDUCATION OF 

made upon his nasal organs when first he inhaled the 
vitiated atmosphere within, though by degrees he might 
have become accustomed to it, did he remain, so as ul- 
timately to become well-nigh insensible to its noisome 
influence. But let such and all others be well assured 
that, however offensive such a fetid atmosphere may 
be to the smell, it is equally injurious to the health. 
And let those who, having returned from a morning 
walk or healthful exercise in a salubrious atmosphere, 
have had occasion to revisit the small and unventilated 
lodging-room in which they spent a restless night with- 
out refreshing sleep, perceive, in the sickening smell, a 
sufficient cause for all their pains and aches, and wonder 
how they survived such a gross violation of the organic 
laws. 

All of the senses may be improved by education. 
The sense of smell constitutes no exception to this rule. 
Let none be discouraged, then ; for the more we ac- 
custom our lungsand nasal organs to pure air, the more 
will they require it, and the more readily will they de- 
tect the presence of the least impurity. 

This sense becomes very acute in deaf persons, and 
even more so in the case of those that are blind. The 
reason is obvious; for, as they are led of necessity to 
rely upon it more than persons who have all the senses, 
it becomes thereby developed, and is enabled more ac- 
curately to judge of the properties of whatever is sub- 
mitted to its scrutiny. Seeing persons rarely partake 
of any article of food, and especially of any thing new, 
without first smelling it, and blind persons never ; for 
this is the only means by which they can judge of its 
wholesomeness or unwholesomeness without tasting it. 

Whatever stupefies the brain, impairs the healthy ac- 
tion of the nerve of smell, or thickens the membrane 
that lines the nasal cavities, and thus diminishes the 



THE FIVE SENSES. 169 

sensibility of the nerves ramified upon it, injures this 
sense. All these effects are produced by the habitual 
use of snuff, which, when introduced into the nose, di- 
minishes the sensibility of the nerves, and thickens the 
lining membrane. By its use the air-passages through 
the nostrils sometimes become completely obstructed. 
It is on this account that most habitual snuff-takers are 
compelled to open their mouths in order to breathe 
freely. It has been well said, that if Nature had in- 
tended that the nose should be used as a snuff-hole, 
she would doubtless have put it on the other end up. 

The Sense of Hearing. — The external ear, although 
curiously shaped, is not the most important part of the 
organ whose function it is to take cognizance of sounds. 
In the transmission of sound to the brain, the vibra- 
tions of the air produced by the sonorous body are col- 
lected by "the external ear, and conducted through the 
auditory canal to the drum of the ear, which is so ar- 
ranged that it may be relaxed or tightened like the 
head of an ordinary drum. That its motion may be 
free, the air contained within the drum has free com- 
munication with the external air by an open passage, 
called the Eustachian tube, leading to the back of the 
mouth. This tube is sometimes obstructed by wax, 
when a degree of deafness ensues. But when the ob- 
struction is removed in the effort of sneezing or other- 
wise, a crack or sudden noise is generally experienced, 
accompanied usually with an immediate return of acute 
hearing. 

The ear-drum performs a two-fold office ; for while 
it aids in the transmission of sound from without to the 
internal ear, it at the same time modifies the intensity 
of sound. This softening of the sound is effected by 
the relaxation of a muscle when sounds are so acute as 
to be painful ; but when listening to low sounds, the 

H 



170 THE EDUCATION OF 

drum is rendered tense by the contraction of this mus- 
cle, and the sounds become, by this means, more audi- 
ble. ' The vibrations made on the drum are transmitted 
by the tympanum — an irregular bony cavity — to the 
internal ear, which is filled with a watery fluid. In 
this fluid the filaments of the auditory nerve terminate, 
which receive and transmit the sound to the brain. 

The ear has the power of judging of the direction 
from which sound comes, as. is strikingly exemplified 
in the fact that when horses or mules march in com- 
pany at night, those in front direct their ears forward, 
and those in the rear turn them backward, while those in 
the center turn them laterally or across, the whole troop 
seeming to be actuated by a feeling to watch the com- 
mon safety. This is also illustrated by four or six horse 
teams, and is a fact with which coachmen are famil- 
iar. It is further illustrated by the dog, and many other 
animals. The external ear of man is likewise furnished 
with muscles ; and savages are said to have the power 
of moving or directing their ears at pleasure, like a 
horse, to catch sounds as they come from different di- 
rections ; but few men in civilized life retain this power. 

The acuteness of this sense in men and animals, 
other things being equal, depends upon the size of the 
ear. In timid animals, as the hare and the rabbit, the 
ear is very large. They are thus apprized of the ap- 
proach of an enemy in time to flee to a place of safety. 

The ear-trumpet — which is a tube wide at one end, 
where the sound enters, and narrow at the other, where 
the ear is applied — is constructed on this principle, its 
sides being so curved that, according to the law of re- 
flection, all the sound which enters it is brought to a 
focus in the narrow end. It thus increases many fold 
the intensity of a sound which reaches the ear through 
it, and enables a person who has become deaf to com- 



THE FIVE SENSES. 171 

mon conversation to mix again with pleasure in so- 
ciety. The concave hand held behind the ear answers 
in some degree the purpose of an ear-trumpet. 

The Ear of Dionysius,'m the dungeons of Syracuse, 
was a notorious instance of a sound-collecting surface. 
The roof of the prison was so formed as to collect the 
words, and even whispers, of the unhappy prisoners, 
and to direct them along a hidden conduit to where 
the tyrant sat listening. 

Acuteness of hearing requires the healthy action of 
the brain, and particularly of that portion of it from 
which the auditory nerve proceeds, combined with per- 
fection in the structure and functions of the different 
parts of the ear. The best method, then, of retaining 
and improving the hearing, is to observe well the gen- 
eral laws of health, and particularly to avoid every 
thing that will in the least impair the structure or 
healthy action of the parts immediately concerned in 
the exercise of this function. Inflammatory fevers, af- 
fections of the brain, and injuries upon the head, are 
among the more common causes of imperfect hearing. 
Hence the impropriety of striking children upon the 
head in correcting them, whether in the family or in the 
school. The instances are not few in which deafness, 
and the impairing of the mental faculties, have resulted 
from that barbarous practice familiarly known as 
" boxing the ears." This inhuman practice is likely to 
result in injury to the drum of the ear, either in thick- 
ening this membrane, or in diminishing its vibratory 
character. Inflammation of the ear-drum, either acute 
or chronic, is the common cause of its increased thick- 
ness. How often this is produced by blows, the reader 
may judge. Diminution of the vibratory character of 
the ear-drum may result from an accumulation of wax 
upon its outer surface. In such cases chronic inflam- 



172 THE EDUCATION OF 

mation of the parts is not unfrequently the result of the 
injudicious practice of attempting its removal by intro- 
ducing the heads of pins into the ear. 

This wax, it should be known, is designed to sub- 
serve an important end ; for the tube leading from the 
external ear, being, like the nose, constantly open, is 
liable to the entrance of foreign bodies, such as dust, 
insects, and the like. But, fortunately, it is not left with- 
out the means of defense ; for on its inside there are 
numerous fine bristles, which, interlacing each other, 
interpose a barrier to the entrance of every thing but 
sound. Moreover, between the roots of these hairs 
there are numerous little glands, that secrete a nause- 
ous, bitter wax, w T hich, by its offensiveness, either deters 
insects from entering, or entangles them and prevents 
their advance in case they do enter. This wax, then, 
is very serviceable. But its usefulness does not stop 
here. When the ear becomes dry from a deficiency 
of it, the hearing becomes imperfect, as also when it is 
thin and purulent. This wax not unfrequently be- 
comes hard and obstructs the tube, causing less or 
more deafness. But this form of deafness may be 
easily cured, even though it has existed for years ; for, 
having softened the accumulations of viscid wax by 
dropping animal oil into the eai>they may be removed 
by the injection of warm soap-suds, which is an effect- 
ual and safe remedy. 

The sense of hearing is perhaps as susceptible of cul- 
tivation as any of the senses. The Indian in the forest, 
who is accustomed to listen to the approach of his ene- 
mies or of his prey, acquires such acuteness of hearing 
as to be able to detect sounds that would be inaudible 
to persons living amid the din of civilized life. The 
blind, also, who of necessity are led to rely more upon 
this sense than seeing persons, excel in the acuteness 



THE FIVE SENSES. 173 

ot their hearing. They recognize their acquaintances 
by the exercise of this sense as readily as persons usu- 
ally do by that of sight, an attainment which very few 
seeing persons make, and yet one that is perhaps within 
the reach of ninety-nine persons in every hundred. 
The blind judge with great accuracy the distance of 
persons in conversation, of carriages in motion, and of 
all sonorous bodies whose vibrations reach their ears. 
They even estimate with remarkable correctness the 
distance and height of buildings by the reflection or 
interception of sound. It is in consequence of the acute- 
ness of this sense, acquired by careful cultivation, that 
the blind, as a class, have become so generally and 
justly distinguished for their pre-eminence in instru- 
mental music. This enables them also to cultivate 
vocal music with more than ordinary success. 

The due cultivation of the sense of hearing will con- 
tribute vastly to promote our intellectual and moral 
well-being. If it be true, as we are told it is by those 
who have been engaged in teaching both the deaf and 
the blind, that the absence of hearing is even a more 
formidable impediment to the communication of knowl- 
edge than that of sight, we must infer that all imper- 
fections of the organ of hearing itself, or in the manner 
of using it, must correspondingly lessen the accuracy 
of the knowledge we receive through that organ. The 
meaning of language very often is conveyed not so 
much by the words themselves as in the tones of voice 
in which the words are uttered. If, therefore, the hear- 
ing be indistinct, or there be no habit formed of care- 
ful attention to the inflections of sound, the impressions 
received from what we hear must often be inaccurate. 
Our speech, too, will be far less agreeable, and be in- 
efficient, even- if it be not positively inarticulate. We 
owe it to others, no less than to ourselves, then, to cul- 



174 THE EDUCATION OF 

tivate the powers of the voice — the common instru- 
ment that God has given us for the interchange of 
thought, sentiment, and feeling, and which, though so 
common, is the most perfect of all instruments for the 
transmission of sound. Yet how deplorably is it neg- 
lected ! how shamefully is it misused ! It can be fully 
developed and made what it is capable of being only 
through the influence of the ear. If this organ be neg- 
lected, the voice must needs be imperfect. And the 
voices of many persons are through life imperfect and 
disagreeable, because they were not carefully trained 
in early life to articulate distinctly, much less to utter 
musical sounds. The opinion is confidently expressed 
by those who are best qualified to decide the matter, 
that nearly all children might be taught to sing, if 
proper attention were paid early enough to the use 
they make of their ears and their organs of sound. 
The careful training of these should be considered an 
indispensable part of a school-teacher's as well as of 
a parent's duty. 

The ear will find appropriate discipline in distinguish- 
ing, without aid from the eye, the causes of various 
sounds, as the opening of a door, the shutting of a knife, 
the dropping of various coins, the moving of different 
articles of furniture, etc. It may also find appropriate 
exercise in determining the direction from which vari- 
ous sounds proceed ; in recognizing acquaintances by 
their natural voices, and in detecting the counterfeit 
voices of companions ; in arranging and classifying the 
elementary sounds of the language, and in determining 
all the different musical tones ; in judging of the genus 
and species of birds by their chirping, of the distance 
and nature of sonorous bodies of various kinds, etc., etc. 
These are some of the direct means of improving this 
sense : others will suggest themselves to the thought- 
ful reader. 



THE FIVE SENSES. 175 

The Sense of Sight.— The sense of sight, which is 
the most refined and admirable of all the senses, still 
remains to be considered. The senses generally serve 
as interpreters between the material universe without 
and the spirit within. But it is more especially by the 
sense of sight that we are enabled to hold converse 
with the external world. Without it we should be de- 
prived of a large portion of the pleasures of life not 
only, but even of the means of maintaining our exist- 
ence. It is through the sense of vision that the wis- 
dom, power, and benevolence of the Deity are chiefly 
manifested to us. 

I shall describe the apparatus of vision only so far 
as is necessary in order to subserve my leading object, 
which is the preservation and improvement of this 
sense, and the means of rendering it tributary to intel- 
lectual and moral culture. The eye, which is the or- 
gan of vision, is an optical instrument of the most per- 
fect construction. It is surrounded by coats, which 
contain refracting mediums, called humors. There are 
three coats, called the sclerotic, the choroid, and the ret- 
ina ; and three humors, called the aqueous, the crys- 
talline, and the vitreous. 

The sclerotic or outer coat, called also the white of 
the eye, is an opaque, fibrous membrane. It has al- 
most the firmness of leather, possesses little sensibility, 
and is rarely exposed to inflammation or other dis- 
eases. It invests the eye on every side except the 
front, and besides maintaining its globular form and 
preserving its internal and delicate structure, serves 
for the attachment of those muscles which move this 
organ. The opening in the fore part of this opaque 
coat is filled by the transparent cornea, which resem- 
bles a watch crystal in shape, and is received into a 
groove in the front part of the sclerotic coat in the 



176 THE EDUCATION OF 

same manner that a watch-glass is received into its 
case. But for this arrangement light could not gain 
admission to the eye. 

The choroid coat, which constitutes the second in- 
vesting membrane of the eye, is of a dark brown color 
upon its outer surface, and of a deep black within. The 
internal surface of this membrane secretes a dark sub- 
stance resembling black paint, upon which the retina is 
spread out, and which is of great importance in the 
function of vision, as it seems to absorb the rays of light 
immediately after they have struck upon the sensible 
surface of the retina. 

The retina, which is the third and innermost mem- 
brane of the eye, is the expansion of the optic nerve, 
and constitutes the immediate seat of vision. Such is 
the arrangement of the humors of the eye, and so per- 
fectly are they adapted to the functions they are called 
upon to perform, that in the healthy state of this organ, 
the light entering the pupil is so refracted as to paint 
upon the retina an exact image of the objects from 
which it proceeds. The optic nerve, whose expansion 
forms the retina, receives this image and transmits it 
to the mind. 

Arnott has well remarked, that " a whole printed 
sheet of a newspaper may be represented on the retina 
on less surface than that of a finger nail ; and yet not 
only shall every word and letter be separately perceiv- 
able, but even any imperfection of a single letter. Or, 
more wonderful still, when at night an eye is turned 
up to the blue vault of heaven, there is portrayed on 
the little concave of the retina the boundless concave 
of the sky, with every object in its just proportions. 
There a moon in beautiful miniature may be sailing 
among her white-edged clouds, and surrounded by a 
thousand twinkling stars, so that to an animalcule sup- 



THE FIVE SENSES. 177 

posed to be within and near the pupil, the retina might 
appear another starry firmament with all its glory." 

Besides these three coats, and the cornea which con- 
stitutes about one fifth of the anterior portion of the 
outer coat, it is necessary to notice the iris, so called 
from its variety of color in different persons, and upon 
w T hich alone the color of the eye depends. The iris is 
a circular membrane situated just behind the cornea, 
and is attached to one of the coats at its circumference. 
In its center is a small round hole, called the pupil ; 
and sometimes spoken of familiarly as the sight of the 
eye, as no light can enter the eye except through it. 
The iris possesses the power of dilating and contract- 
ing, so as to admit more or less light, as it may be need- 
ed. This change in the size of the pupil is effected by 
two sets of muscular fibers. The first set converge 
from the circumference of the iris to the circular mar- 
gin of the pupil, and constitute the radiated muscle. 
The outer ends of these fibers are attached to the scle- 
rotic coat, which is unyielding ; hence, when they con- 
tract, the pupil enlarges to receive more light. The 
other set is composed of circular fibers, which go round 
in the iris from the border to the pupil, and constitute 
the orbicular muscle, the contraction of which dimin- 
ishes the size of the pupil. When too much light enters 
the eye, the excited and sensitive retina immediately 
gives warning of the danger, and the nerves, which are 
plentifully distributed to the iris, stimulate the orbicular 
muscle to contract, and the radiated one to relax, by 
which the size of the pupil is lessened. But when the 
light which enters the pupil is insufficient to transmit 
a distinct image of objects to the brain, the orbicular 
muscle relaxes, and the radiated one coi^gracts, so as to 
enlarge the pupil. The contraction of the pupil is 
readily seen when a person passes from a darkened 

H2 



178 THE EDUCATION OF 

room into a bright sunlight, or when a light is first 
brought into a room in the twilight of evening. Any 
person may notice this contraction in his own eye by 
beholding himself in a glass immediately after passing 
from a dark to a well-lighted room. So, also, when a 
person looks at an object near the eye, the pupil con- 
tracts, but when he looks at an object more remote, it 
dilates. The muscles of the iris are somewhat under 
the control of the will ; for most persons can contract 
or dilate the pupil, in some degree, at pleasure. Some 
persons possess this faculty to a great extent. 

The three humors of the eye have been compared to 
the glasses of a telescope, and the coats to the tube, 
which keeps them in their places. The aqueous humor 
is situated in the fore part of the eye, and is divided by 
the iris into what are called the anterior and posterior 
chambers of the eye. The crystalline humor, or lens, is 
situated immediately behind the aqueous humor, a short 
distance back of the pupil, and is a perfectly transpa- 
rent double convex lens, closely resembling in shape 
the common burning glass. This resemblance does 
not stop here ; for this lens, like the burning glass, pos- 
sesses the property of converging the rays of light 
which fall upon it, and bringing them to a focus. When 
this lens becomes so opaque as to obstruct the passage 
of light, either partially or entirely, a person is said to 
have a cataract. This can be cured only by a surgical 
operation. The vitreous humor, situated back of the 
other two, forms the principal part of the globe of the 
eye. It differs from the aqueous in one important par- 
ticular. When that is discharged in extracting the 
crystalline lens for cataract or otherwise, it will be re- 
stored again ii#a few hours, and the eye will continue 
to perform its function. But if this be discharged by 
accident, the eye is irrecoverably lost. This, however, 



THE FIVE SENSES. 179 

does not often occur ; for, as we shall presently see, the 
eye is admirably fortified. 

The eye is a perfect optical instrument, infinitely sur- 
passing all specimens of human skill. This is true, 
view it in what light we may. It not only possesses 
the power of so adjusting its parts as to adapt it to the 
examination of objects at different distances, and in light 
of different degrees of intensity, but we are enabled to 
direct it at will to objects above, beneath, or around us. 

The various motions of the eye are produced by six 
little muscles. These are attached at one extremity 
to the immovable bones of the orbit, while at the other 
extremity they are inserted into the sclerotic coat, four 
of them near its junction with the cornea, by broad, 
thin tendons, which give to the white of the eye its 
pearly appearance. These muscles are so arranged by 
the matchless skill of the Architect as to enable the be- 
holder to direct the eye to any object he chooses, and to 
hold it there for any length of time that is compatible 
with the laws by which muscular exercise should be 
regulated. By the slight or intense action of four of 
these, called the straight muscles, the eye is less or more 
compressed, and the relative positions of its humors are 
by this means so nicely adjusted as to enable us to view 
objects near by or at a distance. The other two are 
called oblique muscles, one of which, with its long ten- 
don passing through a cartilaginous loop, acts upon the 
principle of the fixed pulley, and turns the eye in a di- 
rection contrary to its own action. When the external 
muscle becomes too short, the eye turns out ; but if the 
internal muscle is unduly contracted, the eye turns in- 
ward, toward the nose. One eye is sometimes turned 
up or down, but this is of less frequent occurrence. 

It would be interesting to notice the protecting or- 
gans of the eye, consisting of the orbit, which is a deep 



180 THE EDUCATION OF 

bony socket, in which the eye securely rests ; of the 
eye-brows, which are two projecting arches, covered 
with hair, and so arranged as to prevent the moisture 
that accumulates upon the forehead, in free perspira- 
tion, from flowing into the eye ; of the eye-lids, which 
are two movable curtains for the protection of the eye. 
and which secrete a fluid that moistens and lubricates 
it ; of the lachrymal gland, with its ducts, which keeps 
the eye constantly moist, and whose secretions go on 
while we wake and when we sleep, etc., etc. ; but the 
preceding must suffice. 

With this brief description of the apparatus of vision, 
we proceed to the consideration of the means of pre- 
serving and improving this sense, and of rendering it 
tributary to intellectual and moral culture. 

The rule requiring that action should alternate with 
rest, which has been so often stated, and which applies 
to all the organs of both body and mind, should be es- 
pecially observed in relation to the eye. This organ 
requires exercise, and light is its appropriate stimulus ; 
but injury is the inevitable consequence of keeping it 
too constantly employed, or too intently fixed for a long 
time on any object. Whenever the eye is fixed for any 
length of time upon an object which it distinguishes 
with difficulty, it experiences a painful sensation, which 
is a sure indication that it has been overtaxed. The 
sight is. also impaired when the eye is too little used, 
or when its natural stimulus is shut out, as is strikingly 
illustrated in the case of persons confined in dungeons. 
A distinguished oculist has said that many men daily im- 
pair or destroy their eyes by immoderate use, and that 
not a few have done the same by too little use of them. 

The exposure of the eyes to sudden transitions from 
weak to strong light is very injurious. This may be 
regarded as one of the most prolific causes of weak- 



THE FIVE SENSES. 181 

ness of sight. The injury is generally gradual, it is 
true, but it is none the less fatal on that account. The 
immediate sensation of pain, when a strong light is 
brought into a dark room, should be a sufficient warn- 
ing to avoid such sudden extremes. The iris dilates 
and contracts, and thus enlarges or diminishes the size 
of the pupil as the light that falls upon the eye is faint 
or strong ; but this dilation and contraction are not in- 
stantaneous. There are numerous instances on record 
in which total blindness has resulted from a sudden 
transition from darkness to the brilliancy of day. The 
habit of looking at a bright light of any kind, and es- 
pecially of watching flashes of lightning, which is prac- 
ticed by many, is exceedingly dangerous. The prac- 
tice which many students and others indulge in, of rest- 
ing their eyes as the twilight of evening advances, and 
allowing the pupil to dilate until it is quite dark, and 
then suddenly introducing a bright light, is a palpable 
violation of this rule, and one that is sure, sooner or 
later, sensibly to injure the eyes. The exposure of the 
eyes suddenly to a strong light upon waking from sleep, 
and all sudden changes of whatever kind from darkness 
to intense light, should be carefully avoided by persons 
who would preserve their sight unimpaired. 

The strength of light used should be regulated ac- 
cording to the powers of the eye. This is a general, 
though a very important rule. Both the amount and 
the distribution of light should be such as to produce 
no unpleasant sensations. The eye possesses a certain 
degree of adaptation to light, according as it is intense 
or feeble. Some eyes require a stronger light than 
others, but all eyes are injured by being used in light 
that is too intense or too feeble. Reading by a strong 
sunlight, and by moon or star light, may be adduced as 
illustrations which are alike painful and injurious. 



182 THE EDUCATION OF 

Too little light is well-nigh as injurious as too much, 
as he can not fail to have noticed who has had occasion 
to travel a difficult road in a dark night. The injury, 
in such cases, is two-fold ; for while, on the one hand, 
the radiated muscle of the iris is unduly contracted for 
a length of time, in order sufficiently to enlarge the 
pupil to render objects visible, the sensitive retina, on 
the other hand, is overtaxed to gain a knowledge of 
them in too feeble light. The pain which the strained 
eye thus experiences is only an indication and a warn- 
ing to the individual of the permanent injury he is in- 
flicting upon this delicate organ. 

Rooms should be well and evenly lighted. The irreg- 
ular and flickering light of common lamps and candles 
is very injurious, and should be avoided in the study v 
and in all mechanical pursuits where the eye is much 
taxed. The best oculists concur in the opinion that 
reflected and concentrated light are highly injurious. 
Several cases of actual blindness are recorded as having 
occurred within a few years from exposure to concen- 
trated light, and weakness of sight that has unfitted the 
individual for usefulness through life has often been 
thus produced. The rays of the sun are considered 
as peculiarly injurious when reflected from an opposite 
building or wall, or even when they pass through a 
window, and, descending to the floor, are thence re- 
flected to the eyes. What, then, shall we say of the 
habit of constructing school-rooms in such a manner 
that perhaps a majority of the scholars are obliged to 
write and study at desks upon which the direct rays 
of the sun shine for a considerable portion of the day 
unbroken unless it be by a passing cloud ! And yet 
thousands of school-houses are situated in such a man- 
ner as to create this very necessity all over our coun- 
try. At a moderate estimate, the eyes of one hundred 



THE FIVE SENSES. 183 

thousand children are taxed in this manner in the 
schools of the United States every passing year. A 
vast amount of discomfort and unhappiness is produced 
in this way that might easily be avoided, would parents 
and teachers take the trouble. Any exposure of this 
kind should be immediately obviated, either by blinds, 
or by curtains of some soft color. A few newspapers 
are much better than nothing. The desks and furniture 
should be of such a color that the eye may repose upon 
them with agreeable sensations. Nature is clothed 
with drapery whose color is refreshing to the eye ; and 
it is false taste, as well as false philosophy, which at- 
tempts to dazzle in order to please it. 

The use of side lights is injurious. The eye will ac- 
commodate itself to light of different degrees of inten- 
sity within a limited range, but both eyes should be ex- 
posed to an equal degree of light. The sympathy be- 
tween the eyes is so great, that if the pupil of one eye 
is dilated by being kept in the shade, as must, of course, 
be the case where the light is on one side, the eye which 
is exposed can not contract itself sufficiently for pro- 
tection, and is almost inevitably injured. 

When viewing objects, we should avoid, as far as 
possible, all oblique positions of the eye. By neglecting 
this rule, an unnatural and permanent contraction of the 
muscle is liable to be produced, as is illustrated in the 
numerous instances of strabismus, or cross-eye, which 
are every where too common. 

We should accustom the eye to viewing objects at dif- 
f event distances. The muscles upon which the form 
of the eye and the size of the pupil depend are subject 
to the general laws of muscular action. Their strength 
and flexibility, which are increased by healthful exer- 
cise, are impaired by disuse. Hence students who have 
neglected this rule, and have accustomed themselves 



184 THE EDUCATION OF 

for a long time to view objects near by, lose the power 
of adjusting the eye so as to view things at a distance. 
As a consequence, they become near-sighted, and put 
on glasses, when, by a proper use of the eye, their vis- 
ion might have been preserved unimpaired many long 
years. I know some students upon whom this habit 
became so firmly fixed before they were twenty years 
of age, that they felt compelled to put on glasses, but 
who, unwilling to contract so pernicious a habit in early 
life, commenced a course of discipline in accordance 
with the suggestions here given. By perseverance, 
their eyes not only recovered their former healthful ac- 
tion, but became so improved that they now possess 
the sense of vision unimpaired not only, but in a very 
high state of cultivation. 

Persons become near or long sighted as the objects 
to which they are accustomed to direct the eye are 
near or remote. This is illustrated in the case of stu- 
dents, watch-makers, and engravers, who are accus- 
tomed to examine minute objects near the eye, and, as 
a consequence, become near-sighted ; and of surveyors, 
hunters, and sailors, who, being accustomed to view 
objects at a distance, become long-sighted. By a prop- 
er discipline of the eye, persons may attain and retain 
the power of viewing objects near by and at a distance, 
as is illustrated in the case of those gunsmiths who are 
accustomed to manufacture guns, and to try them in 
shooting at a mark at a great distance. The preceding 
principles being borne in mind in their various applica- 
tions, I need, perhaps, state but one more rule. 

He who would secure clear and distinct vision, must 
observe all those rules which are necessary to keep the 
body in health. The sympathy of the eyes with all 
the other organs of the body is wonderful and intimate. 
There is no other organ whose strength depends so 



THE FIVE SENSES. 185 

much on the general vigor of the system. Strict tem- 
perance in eating and drinking may be regarded as an 
indispensable requisite for the preservation of healthy 
eyes. To this may be attributed the clear heads of 
the ancient philosophers, who, unlike most students of 
the present day, exercised their bodies and limbs as 
well as their minds. Their works are not the produc- 
tion of congested brains, for these were not oppressed 
with blood belonging to other parts of the body. They 
studied and thought, and exercised both body and mind 
in the open air, and thus observed the laws of health. 
But among the multitudes of close students of the pres- 
ent day, who complain of weakness of the eyes, the 
misfortune is generally attributable to an almost total 
neglect of the first principles of health. 

While we reproach and loathe the man whose eyes 
are red and weeping with the effects of intemperate 
drinking, we cordially pity purblind students, as in 
some sense martyrs to the cause of learning. Dr. Rey- 
nolds, a distinguished American oculist, administers a 
rebuke to such which we fear is too often merited : 
" A closer examination of their history presents a very 
different result. Our sympathy may grow cool if we 
regard them with a physiologic eye. It is a love of 
the flesh, more than a love of the spirit, that too often 
clouds their vision. It is too much food, crowding 
with unnecessary blood the tender vessels of the ret- 
ina. It is too little exercise, allowing these accumu- 
lated fluids to settle down into fatal congestion. It is 
positions wholly at variance with the freedom of the 
circulation, and various other imprudences, which are 
the results of carelessness or unjustifiable ignorance. 
1 The day laborer may eat what he will, provided it is 
wholesome, and his eyes will not suffer. But let the 
student, who is called upon to devote not only his eyes, 



186 THE EDUCATION OF 

but his brain, to severe labor, live upon highly nutritious 
food, and such as is difficult of digestion, and we shall 
soon see how his vision will be impaired, through the 
vehement and persevering determination of blood to. 
the head, which such a course must inevitably occa- 
sion.' So speaks Beer, whose extensive opportunities 
of observation have perhaps never been exceeded. 
The daily practice of every observing oculist is filled 
with coincident experience." 

Among the prevalent habits of students by which the 
eyes are injured, the same writer mentions the irri- 
tation produced by rubbing them on awaking in the 
morning, a practice which has in some cases occasion- 
ed permanent and incurable disease ; reading while the 
body is in a recumbent position ; using the eyes too early 
after the system has been affected with serious dis- 
ease ; exercising them too much in the examination of 
minute objects ; the popular plan of using green spec- 
tacles, and the use of tobacco. 

Light which is sufficient for distinct vision, and which 
falls over the shoulder in an oblique direction, from 
above, upon the book or study table, is generally re- 
garded, and with great propriety, as best suited to the 
eyes. Some oculists prefer to have the light fall over 
the left shoulder. 

The acuteness of this sense and the extent of its cul- 
tivation are very much greater in some individuals and 
classes of men than in others. This is a fact that has 
been remarked by observing persons. Its consequences 
should not be overlooked, for they are neither few nor 
unimportant. Those persons who have been long ac- 
customed, either by the necessity of their situation, the 
example of those about them, or the judicious care of 
parents and teachers, to observe attentively the rela- 
tions of parts, the symmetry of forms, or the shades of 



THE FIVE SENSES. 187 

color, have eyes that are perpetually soliciting their 
minds to notice some beautiful or grand perceptions. 
Wherever they turn, they espy some new, and, therefore, 
curious arrangement of the elements of shape, some 
striking combination of light and shade, or some de- 
licious peculiarity of coloring. The multiplicity and 
variety of their perceptions must and do increase the 
number of their thoughts, or give to their thoughts 
greater compass and definiteness. Such persons are 
likely to become poets, or painters, or sculptors, or ar- 
chitects. At any rate, they will appreciate and enjoy 
the productions of others who have devoted themselves 
to these delightful arts. And will not such persons be 
most readily awakened to descry and adore the power, 
the skill, and the beneficence of the Great Architect 
who reared the stupendous fabric of the universe, who 
devised the infinite variety of forms which diversify 
creation, and whose pencil has so profusely decked 
every work with myriads of mingling dyes, resulting 
all from a few parent colors ? To an unpracticed eye, 
the beauties and w T onders of creation are all lost. The 
surface of the earth is a blank, or, at best, but a confused 
and misty page. Such an eye passes over this scene 
of things, and makes no communication to the mind 
that will awaken thought, much less enkindle the spirit 
of devout adoration, and fill the soul with love to Him 
" whose universal love smiles every where." 

Mr. May speaks no less sensibly than eloquently 
when he says, " I may be extravagant in my estimation 
of the importance of the culture of the eye and the ear* 
but so it is, that while I have been reading the writings 
of the Hebrew Prophets, and of those other gifted bards 
who communed so intently with nature and with na- 
ture's God, it has seemed to me impossible that any 
one could enter fully into all the tenderness, beauty, 



188 THE EDUCATION OF 

and sublimity of their language, or receive into his 
heart all its peculiarity of meaning, unless his own eye 
had been used to trace the skill of that hand which 
framed and fashioned every thing that is, and to descry 
the delicacy of that pencil which has painted all the 
flowers of the field, nor unless his own ear has learned 
to perceive the melody and harmony of sounds." 

We can discipline the sight directly, and to a very 
great extent ; and we can have the satisfaction of per- 
ceiving the progressive improvement of the faculty. 
For this purpose, every school should be furnished with 
appropriate apparatus. A set of measures is indispen- 
sable. I will illustrate by an example. For the bene 
fit of the primary department connected with a sem- 
inary of learning that was formerly for several years 
under my supervision, I constructed a set of rules for 
linear measurement. Their breadth and thickness 
were uniform, each being an inch wide and half an inch 
thick. The set consisted of nine rules, whose lengths 
were as follows : four were each one foot long ; one, 
a foot and a half long ; two, two feet ; one, two and a 
half feet ; and one, three feet. Every rule had a small 
hole bored through each end. I had also a number of 
small pins turned just the right size to fit these holes. 
I have since submitted to several hundred teachers, in 
institutes and elsewhere, my mode of combining and 
using these measures ; and from the deep interest 
which a large number of intelligent parents and teach- 
ers in different localities have manifested in the sub- 
ject, I venture to refer to it in this connection. I first 
tried the experiment ten years ago, with a class of about 
twenty children from four to seven years of age. Sev- 
eral of these could not read, and some of them had not 
learned the alphabet. The children were first led to 
observe carefully the length of these several rules, un- 



THE FIVE SENSES. 189 

til they could determine at sight the length of each. 
For several of the first lessons some of them would 
misjudge. They would, for instance, call a two foot 
rule one and a half or two and a half feet long. In 
such cases their judgments were immediately correct- 
ed by the application of two one foot rules. They 
were then led to observe with care, tables, desks, etc., 
and to estimate their length, and were afterward per- 
mitted to measure them, and discover the degree of 
accuracy in their decisions. After obtaining the opin- 
ions of the children in relation to the length or height 
of an object, I would measure it myself in the presence 
of the class. When the class became a little experi- 
enced, we examined the length, breadth, and height of 
rooms, of houses, and of churches ; and then the dis- 
tance of objects less or more remote, correcting or con- 
firming their estimates by the application of the rule 
or measure, which gave a permanent interest to the ex- 
ercise. By exercising the class in this manner, not to 
exceed half an hour a day, they would, at the end of 
the first quarter, judge of each other's height, of the 
height of persons generally, of the length of various 
objects, of the size of buildings, and of the dimensions 
of yards, gardens, and fields, with greater accuracy 
than the average of adult persons, as was tested by ac- 
tual measurement in some instances where there was 
a disagreement in opinion. 

By holding these rules in different positions, the chil- 
dren readily became familiar with the meaning and 
practical application of the terms perpendicular, hori- 
zontal, and oblique. They would also tell which term 
is applicable to the different parts of the stove-pipe ; to 
the different parts of the furniture of the school-room ; 
to the floor, sides of the room, roof, etc. ; and to all ob- 
jects with which they were familiar. 



190 THE EDUCATION OF 

But the reader may inquire, what is the use of the 
holes and the pins ? By pinning two rules together, 
one resting upon the other, and then turning one of 
them around, the class will readily gain a correct idea 
of the use of the term angle; also of the terms acute 
angle, right angle, and obtuse angle. By pinning three 
of these rules together at their ends, the children not 
only see, but can handle the simplest form of geometrical 
figures. When this figure is defined, they are enabled 
permanently to possess themselves of the meaning of 
the word triangle, by the simultaneous exercise of three 
senses. By combining rules of the same and different 
lengths, they become familiar with equilateral, isos- 
celes, scalene, right, and obtuse angled triangles. By 
combining, in this way, such a set of rules as I have 
described, the child readily becomes familiar with the 
names and many of the properties of more than half a 
score of geometrical figures, with less effort on the part 
of the teacher than would be required to teach the 
child the names of the same number of letters. These 
exercises, then, may well precede the learning of the 
alphabet, or, at least, proceed simultaneously with it. 
By this means the child's interest in the school is in- 
creased ; his senses are cultivated ; he is enabled bet- 
ter to fix his attention ; he progresses more rapidly 
and thoroughly in his juvenile studies, and at the same 
time lays the foundation for future excellence in pen- 
manship and drawing, and other useful arts. 

The child may also be taught to discriminate the 
varieties of green in leaves and other things ; of yel- 
low, red, and blue, in flowers and paints ; and to dis- 
tinguish not only the shades of all the colors, but their 
respective proportions in mixtures of two or more. 
Many persons, for want of such early culture, have 
grown to years without the ability of distinguishing be- 



THE FIVE SENSES. 11)1 

tween colors, as others have who have neglected the 
culture of the ear without the ability of distinguishing 
between tunes. 

Drawing, whether of maps, the shape of objects, or 
of landscapes, is admirably adapted to discipline the 
sight. Children should be encouraged carefully to sur- 
vey and accurately to describe the prominent points 
of a landscape, both in nature and in picture. Let 
them point out the elevations and depressions ; the 
mowing, the pasture, the wood, and the tillage land ; 
the trees, the houses, and the streams. Listen to their 
accounts of their plays, walks, and journeys, and of any 
events of which they have been witnesses. In these 
and all other exercises of the sight, children should be 
encouraged to be strictly accurate; and whenever it 
is practicable, the judgment they pronounce and the 
descriptions they give should, if erroneous, be correct- 
ed by the truth. Children can not fail to be interest- 
ed in such exercises ; and even where they have been 
careless and inaccurate observers, they will soon be- 
come more watchful and exact. 

It is b}^|he benign influences of education only that 
the senses can be improved. And still their culture 
has been entirely neglected by perhaps the majority of 
parents and teachers, who in other respects have man- 
ifested a commendable degree of interest in this sub- 
ject. That by judicious culture the senses may be 
educated to activity and accuracy, and be made to 
send larger and purer streams of knowledge to the 
soul, has been unanswerably proved by an accumula- 
tion of unquestionable testimony. Most persons, how- 
ever, allow the senses to remain uneducated, except 
as they may be cultivated by fortuitous circumstances. 
Eyes have they, buttheysee not; ears have they, but 
they hear not; neither do they understand. It is not 



192 THE EDUCATION OF THE FIVE SENSES. 

impossible, nor perhaps improbable, that he who has 
these two senses properly 'cultivated will derive more 
unalloyed pleasure in spending a brief hour in gazing 
upon a beautiful landscape, in examining for the same 
length of time a simple flower, or in listening to the 
sweet melody of the linnet as it warbles its song of 
praise, than those who have neglected the cultivation 
of the senses experience during their whole lives ! 

This subject commends itself to all who regard their 
individual happiness, or who desire to render their use- 
fulness as extensive as possible. Upon parents, teach- 
ers, and clergymen, who are more immediately con- 
cerned in the correct education of the rising genera- 
tion, its claims are imperative. Let them be met, in 
connection with other appropriate means now in use 
and hereafter to be put in requisition, and our schools 
can not fail to becom'e increasingly attractive; truancy, 
hence, will be less frequent, and the benign influences 
resulting from the correct education of the whole man 
will inspire the benevolent and philanthropic to renew- 
ed and increased efforts to secure the right education 
of all men, a condition upon which the maximum of 
human happiness depends. 



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 193 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE NECESSITY OF MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 

The exaltation of talent, as it is called, above virtue and religion, 
is the curse of the age. Education is now chiefly a stimulus to learn- 
ing/ and thus men acquire power without the principles which alone 
make it a good. Talent is worshiped ; but if divorced from rectitude, 
it will prove more of a demon than a god. — Channing. 

Religion ought to be the basis of education, according to often-re- 
peated writings and declamations. The assertion is true. Christianity 
furnishes the true basis for raising up character; but the foundation 
must be laid in a very different manner from that which is commonly 
practiced. * * * We can, indeed, scarcely conceive of the purity, the 
self-denial, and the power that might be given to human character by 
systematic development. — Lalor. 

We have now reached a department of our subject 
of surpassing importance, for however judiciously phys- 
ical and intellectual cultivation may have been con- 
ducted, if we make a mistake here, all is lost. Knowl- 
edge is power, it is true ; but we should bear in mind 
that it is potent for evil as well as for good ; and that, 
whether its effects be good or ill, depends entirely upon 
the dispositions and sentiments by which it is impelled 
and guided. Numerous have been the instances illus- 
trative of the fact that the greatest scourges of our 
race are men of gigantic cultivated intellect. Where 
knowledge but qualifies its possessor for inflicting mis- 
ery, ignorance would indeed be bliss. 

I find my views on this important subject so admi- 
rably expressed in the writings of some of the most 
eminent men of the age, that I feel it both a privilege 
and a duty to enforce the sentiments I would inculcate 
by the introduction of their testimony. 

I 



194 THE NECESSITY OF 

Dr. Humphrey observes,* that "it must strike every 
one who is capable of taking a just and comprehensive 
view of the subject, that the common idea of a good 
education — of such an education as every child in the 
state ought to receive — is exceedingly narrow and de- 
fective. Most men leave out, or regard as of very little 
importance, some of the essential elements. They 
seem to forget that the child has a conscience and a 
heart to be educated as well as an intellect. If they 
do not lay too much stress on mental culture, which, 
indeed, is hardly possible, they lay by far too little upon 
that which is moral and religious. They expect to el- 
evate the child to his proper station in society, to make 
him wise and happy, an honest man, a virtuous citizen, 
and a good patriot, by furnishing him with a comforta- 
ble school-house, suitable class-books, competent teach- 
ers, and, if he is poor, paying his quarter bills, while 
they greatly underrate, if they do not entirely overlook, 
that high moral training, without which knowledge is 
the power of doing evil rather than good. It may pos- 
sibly nurture up a race of intellectual giants, but, like 
the sons of Anak, they will be far readier to trample 
down the Lord's heritage than to protect and culti- 
vate it. 

"Education is not a talismanic word, but an art, or 
rather a science ; and, I may add, the most important 
of all sciences. It is the right, the proper training of 
the whole man, the thorough and symmetrical cultiva- 
tion of all his noble faculties. If he were endowed with 
a mere physical nature, he would need, he would re- 
ceive none but a physical training. On the other hand, 
if he were a purely intellectual being, intellectual cul- 
ture would comprehend all that could be included in a 

* In a lecture before the American Institute of Instruction, on the 
Moral and Religious Training of Children. 



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 195 

perfect education. And were it possible for a moral 
being to exist without either body or intellect, there 
would be nothing but the heart or affections to educate. 
But man is a complex, and not a simple being. He is 
neither all body, nor all mind, nor all heart. In popular 
language, he has three natures, a corporeal, a rational, 
and a moral. These three, mysteriously united, are es- 
sential to constitute a perfect man ; and as they all be- 
gin to expand in very early childhood, the province of 
education is to watch, and assist, and shape the devel- 
opment ; to train, and strengthen, and discipline neither 
of them alone, but each according to its intrinsic and 
relative importance. 

" When it is said that * man is a religious being,' we 
should carefully inquire in what respects he is so. In 
a guarded and limited sense the proposition is undoubt- 
edly true. Terrible as was the shock which his moral 
nature received by 'the fall,' it was not wholly buried 
in the ruins. Though blackened and crushed to the 
effacing of that glorious image in which he was created, 
his moral susceptibilities were not destroyed. The 
capacity of being restored, and of infinite improvement 
in knowledge and virtue, was left. In the lowest depths 
of ignorance and debasement, the human soul feels that 
it must have some religion, some support, some refuge 
* when flesh and heart fail.' There is a natural dread 
of annihilation, a longing after immortality, a starting 
back from the last leap in the dark. Men, if they have 
not true religion, will cling to the greatest absurdities 
as substitutes. Hence the pagan world is full of idols. 
Tribes and nations seemingly destitute of all moral 
sense, nevertheless have ' gods many and lords many.' 
If there are any cold-blooded, incorrigible atheists in 
the world, you must look for them not in heathen lands. 
You must go where the altars of the true God have 



196 THE NECESSITY OF 

been thrown down. In this view, man is a religious 
being. He has a moral nature. He is susceptible of 
deep and controlling religious impressions. He can, at 
a very early period of life, be made to see and feel the 
difference between right and wrong — between good 
and evil. He can, while yet a child, be influenced by 
hope and by fear — by reason, by persuasion, and by the 
word of God ; and all this shows that religion was in- 
tended to be a prominent part of his education. There 
can be no mistake in this. It is plainly the will of God 
that the moral as well as the intellectual faculties 
should be cultivated. Every child, whether in the fam- 
ily or the school, is to be treated by those who have 
the care of him as a moral and accountable being. His 
religious -susceptibilities invite to the most diligent cul- 
ture, and virtually enjoin it upon every teacher. The 
simple study of man's moral nature, before we open the 
Bible, unavoidably leads to the conclusion that any 
system of popular education must be extremely defect- 
ive which does not make special provision for this 
branch of public instruction. 

" Even if there had been no fatal lapse of our race — 
if our children were not naturally depraved, nor inclin- 
ed to evil in the slightest degree, still they would need 
religious as well as physical and intellectual guidance 
and discipline. It is true, the educator's task would be 
infinitely easier and pleasanter than it now is, but they 
would need instruction. They would enter the world 
just as ignorant of their immortal destiny as of letters. 
They would have every thing to learn about the being 
and perfections of God ; every thing about his rightful 
claims as their Creator, Preserver, and moral Governor ; 
and every thing touching their duties and relations to 
their fellow-men. Moreover, there is every reason to 
believe that moral and religious training would be nee- 



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 197 

essary to strengthen the principle of virtue in the rising 
generation, and confirm them in habits of obedience 
and benevolence. As, notwithstanding their bodies are 
perfect bodies, and their minds perfect minds at their 
creation, no member or faculty being wanting, still they 
need all the helps of education ; so, if they had a per- 
fectly upright moral nature, they would need the same 
helps. There is no more reason to think, had sin never 
entered into the world, every child would have grown 
up to the * fullness of the stature of a perfect man' in a 
religious sense, without an appropriate education, than 
that he would have become a scholar without it. But 
the little beings that are all the while springing into life 
around us to be educated are the sinful offspring of 
apostate parents. How deeply depraved, how strongly 
inclined to sin from the cradle, this is not the place to 
inquire. All agree that they show an early bias in the 
wrong direction ; and that, left to grow up without 
moral culture and restraint, the great majority would 
go far astray, and become bad members of society. 
This is sufficient for our present argument. The evil 
bias must be counteracted. For the safety of the state, 
as well as for their own sakes, all its children must be 
brought under the forming and sanative influence of 
religious education. No adequate substitute was ever 
devised, or ever can be. ' Train up a child in the way 
he should go, and when he is old he will not depart 
from it,' This is divine ; and the opposite is equally 
true. Train up a child in the way he should not go, 
or — which comes to about the same thing — leave him 
to take the wrong way of his own accord, and when 
he is old he will not depart from that. His tread will 
be heavier and heavier upon the broad and beaten track. 
'Men do not gather grapes of thorns, nor figs of thistles.' 
'Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his 



198 THE NECESSITY OF 

spots ? Then may those also do good who are accus- 
tomed to do evil.' 

"Moral and religious training ought, undoubtedly, 
to be commenced in every family much earlier than 
children are sent to school, and no parent can throw 
off upon the school-master the responsibility of bring- 
ing them up in the ' nurture and admonition of the 
Lord.' He must himself teach them the good way, 
and lead them along in it by his own example. But 
few parents, however, have the leisure and ability to 
do all that is demanded in this vitally essential branch 
of education. All are entitled to the aid of their pas- 
tors and religious teachers ; and every good shepherd 
will feel a tender concern for the lambs of his flock, 
and will feed them with the sincere milk of the word 
both in the sanctuary and at the fireside. But the work 
should not stop here. There ought to be a co-opera- 
tion of good influences in all the seminaries of learn- 
ing, and especially in the primary schools. This co- 
operation would be necessary if moral and religious 
household instruction were universally given, and if all 
the children of the state regularly attended public wor- 
ship, and enjoyed the benefits of catechetical and Sab- 
bath-school teaching. But those who would banish 
religion from our admirable systems of popular educa- 
tion by the plea that it belongs exclusively to the fam- 
ily and the Church, ought to remember what multitudes 
of children this exclusion would deprive of their birth- 
right as members of a Christian community. There 
are tens of thousands in our own heaven-blessed New 
England, and hundreds of thousands in these United 
States, who receive no religious instruction whatever 
at home, and whose parents are connected with no re- 
ligious denomination. What is to be done ? We can 
neither compel ignorant and graceless fathers and 



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 199 

mothers to teach their children the fear of the Lord, 
nor to send them to any place of worship or Sabbath- 
school. I ask again, what is to be done ? These neg- 
lected children are in the midst of us. Our cities swarm 
with them. They are scattered every where over our 
beautiful hills and valleys. Grow up they will among 
our own children, without principle and without morals, 
to breathe mildew upon the young virtues which we 
have sown in our families, and to prey upon the dearest 
interests of society, unless somebody cares for their 
moral and religious education. And where shall they 
receive this education, if not in the school-house? You 
will find them there, if in any place of instruction, and 
multitudes of them you can reach nowhere else. 

" A more Utopian dream never visited the brain of 
a sensible man than that which promises to usher in a 
new golden age by the diffusion and thoroughness of 
what is commonly understood by popular education. 
With all its funds, and improved school-houses, and 
able teachers, and grammars, and maps, and black- 
boards, such an education is essentially defective. 
Without moral principle at bottom to guide and con- 
trol its energies, education is a sharp sword in the 
hands of a practiced and reckless fencer. I have no 
hesitation in saying, that if we could have but one, 
moral and religious culture is even more important 
than a knowledge of letters ; and that the former can 
not be excluded from any system of popular educa- 
tion without infinite hazard. Happily, the two are so 
far from being hostile powers in the common domain, 
that they are natural allies, moving on harmoniously in 
the same right line, and mutually strengthening each 
other. The more virtue you can infuse into the hearts 
of your pupils, the better they will improve their time, 
and the more rapid will be their proficiency in their 



200 THE NECESSITY O* 

common studies. The most successful teachers have 
found the half hour devoted to moral and religious in- 
struction more profitable to the scholar than any other 
half hour in the day ; and there are no teachers who 
govern their schools with so much ease as this class. 
Though punishment is sometimes necessary where 
moral influence has done its utmost, the conscience is, 
in all ordinary cases, an infinitely better disciplinarian 
than the rod. When you can set a school to obev and 
to study because it is right, and from a conviction of 
accountability to God, you have gained a victory which 
is worth more than all the penal statutes in the world; 
but you can never gain such a victory without laying 
great stress upon religious principle in your daily in- 
structions. 

" There is, I am aware, in the minds of some warm 
and respectable friends of popular education, an objec- 
tion against incorporating religious instruction into the 
system as. one of its essential elements. It can not, 
they think, be done without bringing in along with it 
the evils of sectarianism. If this objection could not 
be obviated, it would, I confess, have great weight in 
my own mind. It supposes that if any religious in- 
struction is given, the distinctive tenets of some partic- 
ular denomination must be inculcated. But is this at 
all necessary? Must we either exclude religion alto- 
gether from our common schools, or teach some one 
of the many creeds which are embraced by as many 
different sects in the ecclesiastical calendar? Surely 
not. There are certain great moral and religious prin- 
ciples in which all denominations are agreed ; such as 
the ten commandments, our Savior's golden rule — ■ 
every thing, in short, which lies within the whole range 
of duty to God and duty to our fellow-men. I should 
be glad to know what sectarianism there can be in a 



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 201 

schoolmaster's teaching my children the first and sec- 
ond tables of the moral law; to Move the Lord their 
God with all their heart, and their neighbor as them- 
selves ;' in teaching them to keep the Sabbath holy, to 
honor their parents, not to swear, nor drink, nor lie, nor 
cheat, nor steal, nor covet. Verily, if this is what any 
mean by sectarianism, then the more we have of it in 
our common schools the better. * It is a lamentation, 
and shall be for a lamentation,' that there is so little of 
it. I have not the least hesitation in saying, that no in- 
structor, whether male or female, ought ever to be em- 
ployed who is not both able and willing to teach mo- 
rality and religion in the manner which I have just al- 
luded to. Were this faithfully done in all the primary 
schools of the nation, our civil and religious liberties, 
and all our blessed institutions, would be incomparably 
safer than they are now. The parent who says, I do 
not send my child to school to learn religion, but to be 
taught reading, and writing, and grammar, # knows not 
* what manner of spirit he is of.' It is very certain, that 
such a father will teach his children any thing but re- 
ligion at home ; and is it right that they should be left 
to grow up as heathens in a Christian land ? If he says 
to the schoolmaster, I do not wish you to make my son 
an Episcopalian, a Baptist, a Presbyterian, or a Meth- 
odist, very well. That is not the schoolmaster's busi- 
ness. He was not hired to teach sectarianism. But 
if the parent means to say, I do not send my child to 
school to have you teach him to fear God and keep his 
commandments, to be temperate, honest, and true, to 
be a good son and a good man, then the child is to be 
pitied for having such a father ; and with good reason 
might we tremble for all that we hold most dear, if 
such remonstrances were to be multiplied and to pre- 
vail. 

12 



202 THE NECESSITY OF 

" In this connection I can not refrain from earnestly 
recommending the daily reading of the Scriptures, and 
prayer,* in all our schools, as eminently calculated to 
exert a powerful moral influence upon the scholars. It 
is melancholy to think what swarms of children are 
growing up even in Massachusetts — and what multi- 
tudes of them in every one of these United States — 
who will seldom, if ever, hear the voice of prayer if 
they do not hear it in the schools, and to whom the 
Bible will remain a sealed book if it be not opened there. 
I would not insist that every primary teacher should be 
absolutely required to open or close the school daily 
with prayer. Great and good as I think the influence 
of such an arrangement would be, it might be impossi- 
ble, at present, to find a sufficient number of instructors 
otherwise well qualified who are fitted to lead in this 
exercise. The number, however, I believe is steadily 
increasing. It is probably too late for me, but I hope 
that some of you, gentlemen, may live to see the time 
when the voice of prayer, and of praise too, will be 
heard in every school-house of the land. Could I know 
that this would be the case, it would give me a confi- 
dence in the perpetuity of our civil and religious lib- 
erties which I should exceedingly rejoice to cherish as 
I pass ofTfrom the stage." 

It would seem that these patriotic sentiments, en- 
forced by such persuasive eloquence by this venerable 

* I would not be understood to recommend that any person who 
does not love the Bible, and the doctrines which it inculcates, and who 
does not seek after that purity of heart which it every where enjoins, 
should conduct devotional exercises in school ; but I would respectfully 
inquire whether any who do not delight in such exercises, and who do 
not esteem it a privilege to lead the devotions of those under their 
charge, do not lack an essential qualification to teach school. Our laws 
generally require that the school-teacher be, among other things, well 
qualified in, respect to moral character to instruct a Primary School. 



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 203 

man, can hardly fail to find a permanent lodgment in 
every truly American bosom. The great principles of 
natural and revealed religion, in which all are agreed, 
ought to be inculcated in our common school-books,* 
just as every teacher ought orally to instill these prin- 
ciples into the minds of his pupils. That will be a 
happy day, especially to the children of ignorant and 
vicious parents, when they shall learn more of that 
"fear of the Lord which is the beginning of knowl- 
edge" in the school-house than they have ever yet 
done. Nor is it discovered that the practice of teach- 
ing morals according to the Christian code, and using 
the Bible for that purpose, the great majority adopting 
it, is any infringement whatever on the religious rights 
and liberty of any individual. 

The anecdote of the Indian touching this subject 
may arrest the attention of some reader who would 
otherwise peruse these paragraphs without profit, and 
fix indelibly in his mind the sentiment I would incul- 
cate, and I therefore insert it. The Indian inquires of 
the white man what religion he professes. The white 
man replies, " Not any J' " Not any V says the Indian, 
in astonishment ; " then you are just like my dog ; he's 
got no religion." We have men enough like the In- 
dian's dog, without teaching our children to be like him. 

* The day of writing the above, a lady mentioned to me the follow- 
ing gratifying illustration of my idea. The subject of it is a little girl 
only five years of age, who has never attended school, but has learned 
to read at home, under her mother's tuition. After reading in the first 
number of one of our excellent series of reading books, the story of" the 
honest boy" who never told a lie, for perhaps the twentieth time, the 
little girl said to her mother, " Mother, I like to read this story, for it 
always makes me feel very happy." Similar instances I have witnessed 
scores of times, in the family and in the school. Teachers may almost 
invariably lead their scholars to admire and copy the examples of good 
children about whom they read, and to dislike and avoid those of bad 
ones. This power over children should always be exercised for good. 



204 THE NECESSITY OF 

The French, in the days of the Revolution, voted God 
from his throne. They abolished the Sabbath, and de- 
clared that Christianity was a nullity. They set apart 
one day in ten, not for religion, but for idleness and 
licentiousness. History informs us that the goddess of 
Reason, personified by a naked prostitute, was drawn 
in triumph through the streets of Paris, and that the 
municipal officers of the city, and the members of the 
National Convention of France, joined publicly in the 
impious parade. We need not wonder, then, that even 
the forms of religion were destroyed, and that licen- 
tiousness and profligacy walked forth unveiled. How 
unlike this is the state of things in these United States ! 
We are professedly a Christian nation. We recognize 
the existence of a superior and superintending power 
in all our institutions. 

The New World was early sought by a Christian 
people, that fled from oppression in order to find a 
home where they might worship God unmolested, and 
bequeath to posterity the same inestimable privilege 
and inalienable right. In the days of the Revolution, 
Washington and his coadjutors were accustomed to 
invoke the blessing of the God of battles ; and without 
His favor, they looked not for victory. In the Con- 
gress of this Great Nation, and in our State Legisla- 
tures, we are accustomed to acknowledge our depend- 
ence upon God in employing chaplains with whom we 
unite in daily devotions. 

The Constitution of the United States requires that 
all legislative, executive, and judicial officers in the 
United States, and in the several states, shall be bound 
by oath or affirmation to support the Constitution. The 
Constitution of each of the several states requires a 
similar oath or affirmation ; and some of them further 
provide that, in addition to the oath of office, all per- 



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 205 

sons appointed to places of profit or trust shall, before 
entering upon the same, subscribe a declaration of their 
faith in the Christian religion. 

In our Penitentiaries even, we employ chaplains for 
the social, moral, and religious improvement of crimin- 
als confined within them ; for our object is, not merely 
to deter others from vice by the punishment of offenders, 
but, if possible, to reform the offenders themselves, and, 
bringing them back to virtue, m'ake them useful mem- 
bers both of Christian and of civil society. Should we 
not, then, recognize God in our common schools — the 
primary training-places of our country's youth — by 
reading His word, and familiarizing the juvenile mind 
of the nation with the precepts of the Great Teacher, 
whose code of morals is acknowledged, even by infi- 
dels, to be infinitely superior to any of human origin? 
And should we not humbly invoke His aid in our efforts 
to learn and to do his will ? and His blessing to attend 
those efforts 1 A Paul may plant, and Apollos water ; 
but God giveth the increase. 

The instruction in our common schools, I repeat, 
should be Christian, but not sectarian. There is suffi- 
cient common ground which .all true believers in Chris- 
tianity agree in, to effect an incalculable amount of good, 
if honestly and faithfully taught. Which of the various 
religious sects in our country would take exceptions 
to the inculcation of the following sentiments, and kin- 
dred ones expressed in every part of the Scriptures ? 

" Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 
This is the first and great commandment. And the 
second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as 
thyself." " As ye would that men should do to you, do 
ye also to them likewise." " Love your enemies, bless 
them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, 



200 THE NECESSITY OF 

and pray for them which despitefully use you and per- 
secute you." 

If there is a single instance in which a sect of pro- 
fessing Christians would take exceptions to the inculca- 
tion of these and kindred sentiments in all the schools 
of our land, I have yet to learn it. On the contrary, I 
have received and accepted invitations from scores of 
clergymen, representing not less than eight different 
denominations, to address their congregations on the 
subject of " Moral and Religious Education in Com- 
mon Schools ;" and, having expressed the sentiments 
herein advocated, I have, in every instance, received 
letters of approval and encouragement ; and their 
hearty prayers and active co-operation have confirm- 
ed me in the belief that they are ready and willing to 
"work together" upon this common platform, in ad- 
vancing the interests of this glorious cause. 

I have spoken of the Christian religion as the most 
important branch of a common school education. The 
cultivation of the intellectual faculties alone constitutes 
no sufficient guaranty that the subject of it will become 
either a virtuous man, a good neighbor, or a useful citi- 
zen. But where physical education has been properly 
attended to, if we combine with the cultivation of the 
intellectual faculties of a child a good moral and re- 
ligious education, we have the highest and most un- 
questionable authority for believing that, in after life, 
he will " do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with 
God." 

" The Bible, in several expressive texts," says Dr. 
Stowe,* "gives emphatic utterance to the true princi- 
ple of all right education. For example, * The fear of 
the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and a knowledge 

* In a lecture before the American Institute of Instruction, on the 
Religious Element in Education. 



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 207 

of the Holy is understanding.' Religion must be the 
basis of all right education ; and an education without 
religion is an education for perdition. Religion, in its 
most general sense, is the union of the soul to its Crea- 
tor ; a union of sympathy, originating in affection, and 
guided by intelligence. The word is derived from the 
Latin terms re and ligo, and signifies to tie again, or 
reunite. The soul, sundered from God by sin, by grace 
is reunited to Him ; and this is religion." 

I might present many and substantial reasons why 
instruction in the principles of religion should be given 
in our common schools and in all our institutions of' 
learning, and why those heaven-given principles should 
be exemplified wherever taught. 

The nature of the human mind requires it, as is clear- 
ly shown by the writer last quoted. " The mind is 
created, and God is its creator. Every mind is con- 
scious to itself that it is not self-existent or independ- 
ent, but that its existence is a derived one, and its con- 
dition one of entire, uniform, unceasing dependence. 
This feeling is as truly a part of the essential constitu- 
tion of the mind as the desire for food is of the body, 
and it never can be totally suppressed. If it ever 
seems to be annihilated, it is only for a very brief inter- 
val ; and any man who would persist in affirming him- 
self to be self-existent and independent, would be uni- 
versally regarded as insane. The sympathy which at- 
tracts the sexes toward each other is not more universal 
nor generally stronger than that inward want which 
makes the whole human race feel the need of God ; 
and, indeed, the feelings are, in many respects, so 
analogous to each other, that all ancient mysteries of 
mythology, and the Bible itself, have selected this 
sympathy as the most expressive, the most unvarying 
symbol of the relation between the soul and God. 



208 THE NECESSITY OF 

" Till men can be taught to live and be healthy and 
strong without food ; till some way is discovered in 
which the social state can be perpetuated and made 
happy, with a total separation of the sexes ; till the 
time arrives when these things can be done, we can 
not expect to relieve the human mind from having some 
kind of religious faith. This being the fact, a system 
of education which excludes attention from this part 
of the mental constitution is as essentially incomplete 
as a system of military tactics that has no reference to 
fighting battles ; a system of mechanics which teaches 
nothing respecting machinery ; a system of agriculture 
that has nothing to do with planting and harvesting ; 
a system of astronomy which never alludes to the 
stars ; a system of politics which gives no intimation 
on government ; or any thing else which professes to 
be a system, and leaves out the very element most es- 
sential to its existence. The history of all ages, of all 
nations, and of all communities is a continued illustra- 
tion of this truth. Where did the nation ever exist 
untouched either by religion or superstition ? which 
never had either a theology or a mythology ? When 
you find a nation that exists without food of some sort, 
then you may find a nation that subsists without religion 
of some sort; and never, never before. How unphilo- 
sophical, how absurd it is, then, to pretend that a sys- 
tem of education may be complete, and yet make no 
provision for this part of the mental constitution ! It 
is one of the grossest fooleries which the wickedness 
of man has ever led him to commit. But it is not only 
unphilosophical and foolish, it is also exceedingly mis- 
chievous ; for where religion is withheld, the mind in- 
evitably falls to superstition, as certainly as when 
wholesome food is withheld the sufferer will seek to 
satisfy his cravings with the first deleterious substance 



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 209 

which comes within his reach. The only remedy 
against superstition is sound religious instruction. The 
want exists in the soul. It is no factitious, no acci- 
dental or temporary want, but an essentia] part of our 
nature. It is an urgent, imperious want; it must and 
will seek the means of satisfaction, and if a healthful 
supply be withheld, a noxious one will be substituted." 

The Bible in Schools. — Having taken the liberty 
of recommending the devotional reading of the Scrip- 
tures in all the public schools as eminently calculated 
to make them what they ought to be — nurseries of 
morality and religion as well as of good learning — I 
am now prepared to express the strong conviction, to 
adopt the language of Dr. Humphrey, "that the Bible 
ought to be used in every primary school as a class-book. 
I am not ignorant of the objections which even some 
good men are wont to urge against its introduction. 
The Bible, it is said, is too sacred a volume to be put 
on a level with common school-books, and to be thumb- 
ed over and thrown about by dirty hands. This ob- 
jection supposes that if the Bible is made a school- 
book, it must needs be put into such rude hands ; and 
that it can not be daily read in the classes without di- 
minishing the reverence with which it ought to be re- 
garded as the book of God. But I would have it used 
chiefly by the older scholars, who, if the teachers are 
not in the fault, will rarely deface it. A few words now 
and then, reminding them of its sacred contents, will be 
sufficient to protect it from rough and vulgar usage. 

"The objection that making the Bible a common 
school-book would detract from its sacredness in the 
eyes of the children, and thus blunt rather than quick- 
en their moral susceptibilities, is plausible ; but it will 
not, I am confident, bear the test of examination and 
experience. What were the Scriptures given us for, 



210 THE NECESSITY OP 

if not to be read by the old and the young, the high and 
the low ? Is the common use of any good thing which 
a kind Providence intended for all, calculated to make 
men underrate it ? The best of Heaven's gifts, it is 
true, are liable to be perverted and abused ; but ought 
this to deter us from using them thankfully and proper- 
ly ? We, the descendants of the Puritans, are so far 
from regarding the Bible as too sacred for common 
use, that, however we may differ among ourselves in 
other respects, we cordially unite in efforts to put the 
sacred treasure in the hands of all the people. It is 
one of our cardinal principles, as Protestants, that the 
more they read the Scriptures the better. Are we 
right or are we wrong here ? Let us bring the ques- 
tion to the test of experience. Who are the most moral 
and well-principled class in the community? those who 
have been accustomed from childhood to read the 
Bible, till it has become the most familiar of all books, 
or those who read it but little ? Of two schools, of 
equal advantages in other respects, which is best reg- 
ulated and most easily governed ? which has most of 
the fear of God in it, the deepest reverence for his 
word, that where the Bible is read or from which it is 
excluded? It is easy for ingenious men to reason 
plausibly, and tell us that such and such injurious ef- 
fects must follow from making sacred things too famil- 
iar to the youthful mind ; but who ever heard of such 
effects following from the use of the Bible as a school- 
book ? It will be time enough to listen to this objection 
when a solitary example can be adduced to sustain it. 
" How do all other men out of the Protestant com- 
munion, Papists, Mohammedans, Jews, and Gentiles, 
reason and act in the education of their children? Do 
they discard their sacred books from the schools as too 
holy for common and familiar use 1 No. They under- 



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 211 

stand the influence of such reading far too well, and 
are too strongly attached to their respective religions 
to exclude it. The Romanists, indeed, forbid the use 
of the Scriptures to the common people ; but the Mis- 
sal and the Breviary, which they hold to be quite as 
sacred, are their most familiar school-books. A large 
portion of the children's time is taken up with reading 
the lessons and reciting the prayers ; and what are the 
effects ? Do they become disgusted with the Missal 
and Breviary by this daily familiarity ? We all know 
the contrary. The very opposite effect is produced. 
It is astonishing to see with what tenacity children thus 
educated cling to the superstitions and absurdities of 
their fathers; and it is because their religion is wrought 
into the verv texture of their minds, in the schools as 
well as in the churches. Go to Turkey, to Persia, to 
all the lands scorched and blighted by the fiery train 
of the Crescent, and what school-books will you find 
but portions of the Koran ? Pass to Hindostan, and 
there you will find the Vedas and Shasters wherever 
any thing like popular education is attempted. Enter 
the great empire of China, and, according to the best 
information we can obtain, their sacred books are the 
school-books of that vast and teeming population. In- 
quire among the Jews, wherever in their various dis- 
persions they have established schools, and what will 
you find but the Law and the Prophets, the Targums 
and the Talmud. 

" Now when and where did ever Protestant children 
grow up with a greater reverence for the Bible, a 
stronger attachment to their religion, than Jewish, 
Mohammedan, and Pagan children cherish for their 
school-books, to the study of which they are almost 
exclusively confined, in every stage of their education ? 
It is opposing theory, then, to great and undeniable 



212 THE NECESSITY OF 

facts, to say that using the Christian Scriptures in this 
manner would detract from their sacredness in the 
eyes of our children. If this is ever the case, it must 
be where the teacher himself is a Gallio, and lacks 
those moral qualifications which are essential to his 
profession. Another objection which is sometimes 
brought against the use of the Bible is, that consider- 
able portions of it — though all true, and important as a 
part of our great religious charter — are not suitable for 
common and promiscuous reading. My answer is, we 
do not suppose that any instructor would take all his 
classes through the whole Bible, from Genesis to Rev- 
elation. The genealogical tables, and some other 
things, he would omit of course, but would always 
find lessons enough to which the most fastidious could 
make no objection. 

"The way is now prepared to take an affirmative 
attitude, and offer some reasons in favor of using the 
Bible as a school-book. In the first place, it is the 
cheapest school-book in the world. It furnishes more 
reading for fifty cents than can be obtained in common 
school-books for two dollars. This difference of cost 
is, to the poor, an important consideration. With large 
families on their hands, they often find it extremely 
difficult to meet the demands of teachers and commit- 
tees for new books. Were the Scriptures generally • 
introduced, they would take the place of many other 
reading-books which parents are now obliged to pur- 
chase at four-fold expense. This would be a cogent 
argument on the score of economy, even if the popular 
school-books of this year were sure of maintaining 
their ground the next. But so busy is the press in 
bringing forward new claimants to public favor, that 
they rapidly supplant each other, and thus the burden 
is greatly increased. 



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 213 

" In the next place, the Bible furnishes a far greater 
variety of the finest reading-lessons than any other book 
whatever. This is a point to which my attention has 
been turned for many years, and the conviction grows 
upon me continually. There is no book in which chil- 
dren a little advanced beyond the simplest monosylla- 
bic lessons will learn to read faster, or more readily 
catch the proprieties of inflection, emphasis, and ca- 
dence, than the Bible. I would by no means put it 
into the hands of a child to spell out and blunder over 
the chapters before he has read any thing else. The 
word of God ought not to be so used by mere begin- 
ners. But it contains lessons adapted to all classes of 
learners, after the first and simplest stage. Let any 
teacher who has never made the trial put a young 
class into the first chapter of John, and he will be sur- 
prised to find how easy the reading is, and with what 
pleasure and manifest improvement they may be car- 
ried through the whole Gospel ; and as few are too 
young to read with advantage in the Bible, so none 
are too old. It is known to every body, that the very 
best reading lessons in our most popular school-books 
for the higher classes are taken from the Scriptures. 
Just open the Sacred Volume with reference to this sin- 
gle point, and turn over its thousand pages. As a his- 
tory, to interest, instruct, and improve the youthful 
mind, what other book in the world can compare with 
it? Where else will you find such exquisitely finished 
pieces of biography ? such poetry ? such genuine and 
lofty eloquence ? such rich and varied specimens of 
tenderness, pathos, beauty, and sublimity ? I regret 
that I have not room for a few quotations. I can only 
refer, in very general terms, to the history of the crea- 
tion ; of Joseph and the forty years' wandering in the 
wilderness ; to the book of Job ; to the Psalms of Da- 



214 THE NECESSITY OF 

vid ; to Isaiah ; to the Gospels ; and to the visions of 
John in the Isle of Patmos. 

" Now if the primary qualities of a good school-book 
are to teach the art of reading, and to communicate in- 
struction upon the most interesting and important sub- 
jects, I have no hesitation in saying that the Bible 
stands pre-eminently above every other. If I were 
again to become a primary instructor, or to teach the 
art of reading in any higher seminary than the com- 
mon school-house, I would take the Bible in preference 
to any twenty ' Orators' or ' English Readers' that I 
have ever seen. Indeed, I would scarcely want any 
other. Milton and Shakspeare I would not reject, but 
I would do very well without them, for they are both 
surpassed by Isaiah and John. Let enlightened teach- 
ers, and members of any of the learned professions, 
read over aloud, in their best manner, such portions of 
Scripture as they may easily select, and see if they 
have ever found any thing better fitted to bring out and 
discipline the voice, and to express all the emotions in 
which the soul of true eloquence is bodied forth. Why 
do the masters of oratory, who charm great audiences 
with their recitations, take so many of their themes 
from the Bible ? The reason is obvious. Thev can 
find none so well suited to their purpose. And why 
should not the common schools, in which are nurtured 
so many of the future orators, and rulers, and teachers 
of the land, have the advantage of the best of all read- 
ing-lessons ? Moreover, since so much of the sense of 
Scripture depends upon the manner in which it is read, 
why should not the thousands of children be taught the 
art in school, who will never learn it at home ? The 
more I study the Bible, the more does it appear to me 
to excel all other reading-books. You may go on im- 
proving indefinitely, without ever making yourself a 



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 215 

perfect scriptural reader, just as you might, with all the 
help you can command, spend your whole life in the 
study of any one of its great truths without exhausting- 
it. Let it not be said that we have but few instructors 
who are capable of entering into the spirit of the Sacred 
Volume, so as to teach their scholars to read it with 
propriety. Then let more be educated. It ought to' 
be one of the daily exercises in our Normal Schools, 
and other seminaries for raising up competent teachers, 
to qualify them for this branch of instruction.' , 

I remark again, that were the Bible made a school- 
book throughout the commonwealth and throughout 
the land, an amount of scriptural knowledge would be 
insensibly treasured up, which would be of inestimable 
value in after life. Every observing teacher must have 
been surprised to find how much the dullest scholar 
will learn by the ear, without seeming to pay any at- 
tention to what others are reading or reciting. The 
boy that sits half the time upon his little bench nodding 
or playing with his shoe-strings, will, in the course of 
a winter, commit whole pages and chapters to memory 
from the books he hears read, when you can hardly 
beat any thing into him by dint of the most diligent 
instruction. Indeed, I have sometimes thought that 
children in our common schools learn more by the ear, 
without any effort, than by the study of their own class- 
books ; and I am quite sure this is the case with the 
most of the younger scholars. Let any book be read 
for a series of years in the same school, and half of the 
children will know most of it by heart. Wherever 
there are free schools — and the free school system is 
now becoming extensively adopted in every part of the 
United States — the great mass of the children are kept 
at school from four or five years of age, to nine or ten, 
through the year ; and in the winter season, from nine 



210 THE NECESSITY OF 

or ten to fifteen or sixteen. The average of time thus 
devoted to their education is from eight to ten years. 
Now let the Bible be read daily as a class-book during 
all this time, in every school, and how much of it will, 
without effort, and without interfering in the least with 
other studies, be committed to memory. And who can 
estimate the value of such an acquisition ? What pure 
morality ; what maxims of supreme wisdom for guid- 
ance along the slippery paths of youth, and onward 
through every stage of life ; what bright examples of 
early piety, and of its glorious rewards, even in the 
present world ; what sublime revelations of the being 
and perfections of God ; what incentives to love and 
serve him, and to discharge with fidelity all the duties 
which we owe to our fellow-men ! and all these enfor- 
ced by the highest sanctions of future accountability. 
Let any man tell, if he can, how much all this store of 
divine knowledge, thus insensibly acquired, would be 
worth to the millions of children who are growing up 
in these United States of America. They might not 
be at all sensible of its value at the time, but how hap- 
pily and safely would it contribute to shape their future 
opinions and characters, both as men and as citizens. 

Another cogent reason for using the Bible as a com- 
mon school-book is, tTiat it is the firmest basis, and, in- 
deed, the only sure basis of our free institutions, and, as 
such, ought to be familiar to all the children in the state 
from their earliest years. While it recognizes the ex- 
istence of civil governments, and enjoins obedience to 
magistrates as ministers of God for the good of the 
people, it regards all men as free and equal, the chil- 
dren of one common Father, and entitled to the same 
civil and religious privileges. I do not believe that any 
people could ever be enslaved who should be thoroughly 
and universally educated in the principles of the Bible. 



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 217 

It was no less truly than eloquently said by Daniel 
Webster, in his Bunker Hill address, that " the Ameri- 
can colonists brought with them from the Old World a 
full portion of all the riches of the past in science and 
art, and in morals, religion, and literature. The Bible 
came with them. And it is not to be doubted that to 
the, free and universal use of the Bible it is to be ascribed 
that in that age men were much indebted for right views 
of civil liberty. The Bible is a book of faith and a 
book of doctrine ; but it is also a book which teaches 
man his individual responsibility, his own dignity, and 
equality with his fellow-men." 

These sentiments of the great American statesman 
are worthy to be engraved in golden capitals upon the 
monument under whose shade they were uttered ! 
Yes, it was the free and universal use of the Bible 
which made our Puritan fathers what they were ; and 
it is because, in these degenerate times, multitudes of 
children will be taught to read it nowhere else, that I 
am so anxious to have it read as a school-book. One 
other, and the only additional reason which I shall sug- 
gest, is that, as the Bible is infinitely the best, so it is the 
only decidedly religious book which can be introduced 
into our popular systems of early education. So jeal- 
ous are the different sects and denominations of each 
other, that it would be hardly possible to write or com- 
pile a religious school-book with which all would be 
satisfied. But here is a book prepared to our hands, 
which we all receive as the inspired record of our faith, 
and as containing the purest morality that has ever 
been taught in this lower world. Episcopalians can 
not object to it, because they believe it teaches the doc- 
trines and polity of their own church ; and this is just 
what they want. Neither Congregationalists, Presby- 
terians, Baptists, Methodists, Universalists, nor any 

K 



218 THE NECESSITY OP 

other denomination, can object to it for the same reason. 
Every denomination believes, so far as it differs from 
the rest, that the Bible is on its side, and, of course, 
that the more it is read by all, the better. 

For me to object to having the Bible read as a com- 
mon school-book on account of any doctrine which 
those who differ from me suppose it to teach, would be 
virtually to confess that I had not full confidence in my 
own creed, and was afraid it would not bear a scrip- 
tural test. It seems to me an infinite advantage, for 
which we are bound devoutly to thank the Author of 
all good, that he has given us a religious book of in- 
comparable excellence, which we may fearlessly put 
into the hands of all the children in the state, with the 
assurance that it is able to make them " wise unto sal- 
vation," and will certainly make them better children, 
better friends, and better members of society, so far 
as it influences them at all. But some persons who 
highly approve of daily scriptural reading in common 
schools are in favor of using selections rather than the 
whole Bible. I should certainly prefer this, provided 
the selections are judiciously made, to excluding the 
Scriptures altogether ; but I think there are weighty 
and obvious reasons why the whole Bible should be taken 
rather than a part. The whole is cheaper than half 
would be in a separate volume ; and when the whole 
is introduced, " without note or comment," there can 
be no possible ground for sectarian jealousy. 

Doctors of divinity not only, but the most eminent 
statesmen in the country, hold the views here present- 
ed. The bold and noble stand taken by the Legisla- 
ture of New York more than ten years ago (1838), 
has revived the hopes and infused fresh courage into 
the minds of those who believe that the safety and 
welfare of our country are essentially dependent on the 



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 219 

prevalence of a "religious morality and a moral re- 
ligion." The representatives of this great state, whose 
system of education is becoming increasingly an ob- 
ject of imitation in all the rest, at one and the same 
session doubled the amount of the public money for the 
purpose of improving the education given in the com- 
mon schools — which, to the praise of that state, be it 
said, are now free — and in reply to the petition of sun- 
dry persons, praying that all religious exercises and 
the use of the Bible might be prohibited in the public 
schools, decided by a vote of one hundred and twenty- 
one to one ! that the request of the petitioners be not 
granted. For the purpose of corroborating the doc- 
trines of this volume, I will introduce a paragraph from 
the report of the Hon. Daniel D. Barnard on the occa- 
sion referred to, which was sustained by the noble, un- 
equivocal, and almost unanimous testimony of the rep- 
resentatives of the most powerful member of the Amer- 
ican states. 

" Moral instruction is quite as important to the object 
had in view in popular education as intellectual instruc- 
tion ; it is indispensable to that object. But, to make 
instruction effective, it should be given according to the 
best code of morals known to the country and the age ; 
and that code, it is universally conceded, is contained 
in the Bible. Hence the Bible, as containing that code, 
so far from being arbitrarily excluded from our schools, 
ought to be in common use in them. Keeping all the 
while in view the object of popular education, the fitting 
of the people by moral as well as by intellectual disci- 
pline for self-government, no one can doubt that any 
system of instruction which overlooks the training and 
informing of the moral faculties must be wretchedly 
and fatally defective. Crime and intellectual cultiva- 
tion merely, so far from being dissociated in history 



220 THE NECESSITY OF 

and statistics, are unhappily old acquaintances and tried 
friends. To neglect the moral powers in education is 
to educate not quite half the man. To cultivate the 
intellect only is to unhinge the mind and destroy the 
essential balance of the mental powers ; it is to light up 
a recess only the better to see how dark it is. And if 
this is all that is done in popular education, then noth- 
ing, literally nothing, is done toward establishing pop- 
ular virtue and forming a moral people." 

This is but a specimen of an invaluable document, 
which does honor to the heart and head of him who 
penned it, and to the Legislature of the commonwealth 
by which it was adopted by almost unparalleled una- 
nimity. 

The Hon. Samuel Young, the eminently distinguished 
superintendent of common schools in the same state, in 
a report made in 1843, inculcates sentiments which so 
well accord with my own views of the importance of 
weaving scriptural reading into the very warp and 
woof of popular education, that I gladly add his testi- 
mony. " I regard the New Testament as in all respects 
a suitable book to be daily read in our common schools, 
and I earnestly recommend its general introduction for 
this purpose. As a mere reading-book, intended to 
convey a practical knowledge of the English language, 
it is one of the best text-books in use ; but this, although 
of great use to the pupils, is of minor importance 
when the moral influences of the book are duly con- 
sidered. Education consists of something more than 
mere instruction. It is that training and discipline of 
all the faculties of the mind which shall symmetrically 
and harmoniously develop the future man for useful- 
ness and for happiness in sustaining the various rela- 
tions of life. It must be based upon knowledge and 
virtue ; and its gradual advancement must be strictly 



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION, 221 

subordinated to those cardinal and elementary princi- 
ples of morality, which are nowhere so distinctly and 
beautifully inculcated as in that book from whence we 
all derive our common faith. The nursery and family 
fireside may accomplish much ; the institutions of re- 
ligion may exert a pervading influence ; but what is 
commenced in the hallowed sanctuary of the domestic 
circle, and periodically inculcated at the altar, must be 
daily and hourly recognized in the common schools, 
that it may exert an ever-present influence, enter into 
and form a part of every act of life, and become thor- 
oughly incorporated with the rapidly expanding char- 
acter. The same incomparable standard of moral vir- 
tue and excellence, which is expounded from the pulpit 
and the altar, and which is daily held up to the admi- 
ration and imitation of the family circle, should also be 
reverently kept before the mind and the heart in the 
daily exercises of the school." 

I will add the testimony of another whom we all de- 
light to honor. Never were sentiments uttered more 
worthy to be remembered and repeated through all 
generations, than those which fell from the Father of 
his Country in his Farewell Address to the American- 
people. "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead 
to political prosperity, religion and morality are indis- 
pensable supports. In vain would that man claim the 
tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these 
great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props 
of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, 
equally with the pious man, ought to respect and cher- 
ish them. A volume could not trace all their connec- 
tions with private and public felicity. Let it simply 
be asked, Where is the security for property, for repu- 
tation, for life, if a sense of religious obligation desert 
the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in 



222 THE NECESSITY OF 

courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the 
supposition that morality can be maintained without re- 
ligion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence 
of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, 
reason and experience both forbid us to expect that 
national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious 
principles." How noble, how elevated, how just these 
parting words. 

Washington was an enlightened Christian patriot, 
as well as a great general and a wise statesman. The 
oracles which he consulted in all his perils, and in the 
perils of his country, were the oracles of God.* No one 
of the fathers of the Revolution knew better than he 
did that religion rests upon the Bible as its main pillar, 
and that as a knowledge and belief of the Bible are es- 
sential to true religion, so they are to private and pub- 
lic morality. I can not doubt, says the venerable Pres- 
ident of Amherst College, that could the greatest among 
the great men of his day add a codicil to his invaluable 
legacy, it would be. Teach your children early to read 
and love the Bible. Teach them to read it in your fam- 
ilies ; teach them in your schools ; teach them every 
where, that the first moral lesson indelibly enstamped 
upon their hearts may be to ' fear God and keep his 
commandments.' ' The fear of the Lord, that is wis- 
dom ; and to depart from evil is understanding."' 

How few are aware of what the Bible has done for 
mankind, and still less of what it is destined to accom- 
plish. " Quench its light, and you blot out the bright- 
est luminary from these lower heavens. You bring 
back ' chaos and old night' to reign over the earth, and 
leave man, with all his immortal energies and aspira- 
tions, to ' wander in the blackness of darkness forever.' 

* John Quincy Adams, during his long and eventful life, was accus- 
tomed to read daily portions of the Scriptures in several languages. 



MORAL AND RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 223 

It was by constantly reading it that our Puritan fathers 
imbibed that unconquerable love of civil and religious 
liberty which sustained them through all the ' perils of 
the sea and perils of the wilderness.' It was from the 
Bible they drew those free and admired principles of 
civil government that were so much in advance of the 
age in which they lived. It was this book by which they 
* resolved to go till they could find some better rule.'" 
The Bible has built all our churches, and colleges, 
and school-houses ; it has built our hospitals and re- 
treats for the insane, the deaf, and the blind ; it has 
built the House of Refuge, the Sailors' Home, and the 
Home for the Friendless. To it we are indebted for 
our homes, for our property, and for all the safeguards 
of our domestic relations and happiness. It is under 
its broad shield that we lie down in safety, without bolts 
or bars to protect us. It has given us our free consti- 
tutions of civil government, and with them all the stat- 
utes and ordinances of a great and independent people, 
whose territory extends from the Atlantic to the Pa- 
cific. It is the industry, sobriety, and enterprise, which 
nothing but the Bible could ever inspire and sustain, 
that have dug our canals, and built our thousand facto- 
ries, and " clothed the hills with flocks, and covered over 
the valleys with corn ;" that have laid down our rail- 
ways and established telegraph lines, bringing the East 
into the neighborhood of the West, and enabling the 
North to hold, converse with the South. The Bible 
has directly and indirectly done all this for us, and in- 
finitely more. Let not, then, the book which has given 
to us sweet homes, and happy families, and systems of 
public instruction, and has thus constituted us a great 
and prosperous people — the book which diminishes our 
sorrows and multiplies our joys, and gives to those who 
obey its precepts a "hope big with immortality" — let 



224 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

not this book be excluded from the common schools of 
our country. In the name of patriotism, of philanthro- 
py, and of our common Christianity, let me, in behalf 
of the millions of youth in our country who will other- 
wise remain ignorant of it, ask that, whatever else be 
excluded from our schools, there be retained in them 
this Book of books, the Bible. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF POPULAR EDUCATION. 

Education, as the means of improving the moral and intellectual fac- 
ulties, is, under all circumstances, a subject of the most imposing con- 
sideration. To rescue man from that state of degradation to which he 
is doomed unless redeemed by education ; to unfold his physical, intel- 
lectual, and moral powers, and to fit him for those high destinies which 
his Creator has prepared for him, can not fail to excite the most ardent 
sensibility of the philosopher and philanthropist. A comparison of the 
savage that roams through the forest with the enlightened inhabitant of 
a civilized country would be a brief but impressive representation of 
the momentous importance of education. — Report of School Commis- 
sioners, New York, 1812. 

He who has carefully perused the preceding chap- 
ters of this work is already aware that we regard the 
subject of popular education as one of paramount im- 
portance. The object of devoting a chapter to the 
special consideration of this subject at this time is, 
if possible, to remove from the mind any remaining 
doubts in relation to it. The reader will bear in mind 
that we regard education as having reference to the 
whole man — the body, the mind, and the heart ; and 
that its object, and, when rightly directed, its effect, is 
to make him a complete creature after his kind. To 
his frame it should give vigor, activity, and beauty ; to 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 225 

his intellect, power and thoughtfulness ; and to his heart, 
virtue and felicity. 

We shall be the better prepared to appreciate the 
importance and necessity of a judicious system of train- 
ing and instruction if we consider that, in its absence, 
every individual will be educated by circumstances. 
Let it be borne in mind, then, that all the children in 
every community will be educated somewhere and 
somehow ; and that it devolves upon citizens and pa- 
rents to determine whether the children of the present 
generation shall receive their training in the school-house 
or in the streets ; and if in the former, whether in good 
or poor schools. 

In the discharge of my official duties in this state, I 
had occasion to visit two counties in 1846 in which 
there were no organized common schools.* They 
were not, however, without places of instruction, for 
in the shire town of each of those counties there were 
a billiard-room, bar-rooms, and bowling-alleys. I was 
forcibly impressed with the remark of an Indian chief 
residing in one of those counties. As he was passing 
along the streets one day, he discovered a second bowl- 
ing-alley in process of erection. He paused, and, sur- 
veying it attentively, remarked to those at work upon 
it as follows : " You have here another long building 
going up rapidly ; and," he added, " is this the place 
where our children are to be educated?" Such keen 
and well-merited rebuke rarely falls from human lips. 
Those two bowling-alleys, with their bars — indispensa- 
ble appendages — were thronged from six o'clock in the 
morning until past midnight, six days in the week. 
They were, moreover, the very places where many of 
the youth of that village were receiving their education. 
And who were their teachers ? Idlers, tipplers, gam- 

* Common schools have since been organized in both of those counties. 

K2 



226 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

biers, profane persons, Sabbath-breakers. Mark well 
this truth : as is the teacher, so will be the school. Those 
pupils will graduate, it may be, at our poor-houses, at 
our county jails, or at the state penitentiary. These de- 
basing and corrupting appendages of civilization spent 
not all their influence upon the white man ; and this is 
what gave pungency to the withering satire of the chief. 
They were at once working the ruin of the red man and 
of his pale neighbor. 

The rudest nations or individuals can not be said to 
be wholly without education. Even the wildest savage 
is taught by his superiors not only the best mode of pro- 
curing food and shelter known to his race, but also the 
most adroit manner of defending himself and destroy- 
ing his enemy. But we use the term in a higher, broad- 
er, and more capacious sense, as having reference to 
the whole man, and the whole duration of his being. 
A volume might be filled in stating and illustrating the 
advantages of education. We have only space to state 
and elucidate a few propositions. We remark, then, 
first, that 

EDUCATION DISSIPATES THE EVILS OF IGNORANCE. 

Ignorance is one principal cause of the want of virtue, and of the im- 
moralities which abound in the world. Were we to take a survey of 
the moral state of the world as delineated in the history of nations, 
or as depicted by modern voyagers and travelers, we should find abund- 
ant illustration of the truth of this remark. We should find, in almost 
every instance, that ignorance of the character of the true God, and 
false conceptions of the nature of the worship and service he requires, 
have led, not only to the most obscene practices and immoral abomina- 
tions, but to the perpetration of the most horrid cruelties. — Dr. Dick. 

The evils of ignorance are not few in number nor 
small in magnitude. The whole history of the world 
justifies the statement that ignorant and uncultivated 
mind is prone to sensuality and cruelty. In what coun- 
tries, let me ask, are the people most given to the lowest 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 227 

forms of animal gratification, and most regardless of 
the lives and happiness of others? Is it not in pagan 
lands, over which moral and intellectual darkness 
broods, and where men are vile without shame, and 
cruel without remorse ? And if from pagan we pass 
to Christian countries, we shall find that those in which 
education is least prevalent are the very ones in which 
there is the most immorality, and the greatest indiffer- 
ence to the sufferings of animated and sentient beings. 
Spain — in which, until recently, there was but one news- 
paper printed, and in which only about one in thirty- 
five of the people are instructed in schools — has a pop- 
ulation about equal to that of England and Wales. 
Popular education in the latter countries, although 
much behind several of the other European states, is 
still greatly in advance of what it is in Spain, and there 
is an equally marked difference in the state of morals 
in the people of these countries. In England and Wales 
the whole number of convictions for murder in the year 
eighteen hundred and twenty-six was thirteen, and the 
number convicted for wounding, etc., with intent to 
kill, was fourteen ; while in Spain, the number con- 
victed during the same year was, for murder, twelve 
hundred and thirty-three ! and for maiming with in- 
tent to kill, seventeen hundred and seventy-three ! or a 
more than one hundred fold greater number than in the 
former countries. Facts like these speak volumes in 
favor of the elevating influences of popular education, 
while they show most conclusively the low and de- 
graded condition to which people will sink in countries 
in which education is neglected. 

Spain affords an apt illustration of the truth of the 
statement just made, that ignorant and uncultivated 
people are prone to sensuality and cruelty. Scenes of 
cruelty and blood constitute the favorite amusement of 



228 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

the Spaniards, their greatest delight being in bull-fights. 
An eye-witness describes the manner in which they 
conduct themselves during these appalling scenes in 
the following language. " The intense interest which 
they feel in this game is visible throughout, and often 
loudly expressed. An astounding shout always accom- 
panies a critical moment. Whether it be the bull or 
man who is in danger, their joy is excessive ; but their 
greatest sympathy is given to the feats of the bull ! 
If the picador receives the bull gallantly and forces 
him to retreat, or if the matadore courageously faces 
and wounds the bull, they applaud these acts of science 
and valor; but if the bull overthrow the horse and his 
rider, or if the matadore miss his aim and the bull seems 
ready to gore him, their delight knows no bounds. And 
it is certainly a fine spectacle to see thousands of spec- 
tators rise simultaneously, as they always do when the 
interest is intense. The greatest and most crowded 
theater in Europe presents nothing half so imposing as 
this. But how barbarous, how brutal is the whole ex- 
hibition ! Could an English audience witness the scenes 
that are repeated every week in Madrid, a universal 
burst of 'shame!' would follow the spectacle of a horse 
gored and bleeding, and actually treading upon his own 
entrails while he gallops round the arena. Even the 
appearance of the goaded bull could not be borne, 
panting, covered with wounds and blood, lacerated by 
darts, and yet brave and resolute to the end. 

" The spectacle continued two hours and a half, and 
during that time there were seven bulls killed and six 
horses. When the last bull was dispatched, the peo- 
ple immediately rushed into the arena, and the carcass 
was dragged out amid the most deafening shouts." — - 
Spain in 1830, vol. i., p. 191. 

The same writer, after describing another fight, in 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 229 

which one bull had killed three horses and one man, 
and remained master of the arena, remarks, that "this 
was a time to observe the character of the people. 
When the unfortunate picador was killed, in place of a 
general exclamation of horror and loud expressions of 
pity, the universal cry was 4 Que es bravo ese toro !' 
(' Ah, the admirable bull !') The whole scene pro- 
duced the most unbounded delight ; the greater the 
horror, the greater was the shouting, and the more 
vehement the expressions of satisfaction. I did not per- 
ceive a single female avert her head or betray the 
slightest symptom of wounded feeling." — Vol. L, p. 195. 

A correct system of public instruction develops a 
character widely different from that here brought to 
light. Instead of a love for vicious excitement, it cul- 
tivates a taste for simple and innocent pleasures, and 
gives to its subjects a command over their passions, and 
a disposition habitually to control them. It acquaints 
them with their duty, and enables them to find their 
highest pleasure in its discharge. They order their 
pursuits and choose their employments with reference 
to their own advantage, it is true ; but still, a higher, 
and the controlling motive with them is, the promotion 
of the best good of the community in .which they live. 
In short, their supreme desire is to co-operate with the 
beneficent Creator in advancing the permanent inter- 
ests of the whole human family ; in themselves obey- 
ing, and leading others to obey, all the laws which 
God has ordained for the government and well-being 
of his creatures. 

Education, we said, dissipates the evils of ignorance. 
But in this country we hardly know what popular ig- 
norance is. The most illiterate among us have derived 
many and inestimable advantages from our systems of 
public instruction. Occasionally persons are found 



230 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

amons; us who can neither read nor write. But even 
such persons insensibly imbibe ideas and moral influ- 
ences from the more cultivated society about them 
which, in countries less favored, are denied to multi- 
tudes. Individuals who have had no early advantages 
for learning, who have never even entered a school- 
house, but have grown up amid a generally intelligent 
population, trained by the institutions established by our 
fathers, have in many instances acquired a mental char- 
acter and influence which, but for these fortuitous cir- 
cumstances, they could not have attained. The very 
excellence of our systems of education in many states 
of the Union, and the vital and pervading influence of 
the schools upon the public mind, reaching as they do, 
and improving even those that remain ignorant of let- 
ters, do not allow us to see the full extent of our obli- 
gation to them. This remark applies to all civilized 
countries where any systems of general education are 
adopted, but perhaps not to so great an extent in any 
other country as in our own. 

The evils which flow from ignorance are deplorable 
enough in the case of individuals, although, as we have 
seen, the disastrous consequences are limited in the case 
of those who live surrounded by an intelligent commu- 
nity. But the general ignorance of large numbers and 
entire classes of men, unreached by the elevating influ- 
ence of the educated, acting under the unchastened 
stimulus of the passions, and excited by the various 
causes of discontent which are constantly occurring in 
the progress of human affairs, is not unfrequently pro- 
ductive of scenes, the contemplation of which makes 
humanity shudder. The following extract from a for- 
eign journal affords a pertinent illustration of the evils 
which flow from popular ignorance. It relates to the 
outrages committed by the peasantry in a part of Hun- 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 231 

gary in consequence of the ravages of the cholera in 
that region. 

" The suspicion that the cholera was caused by pois- 
oning the wells was universal among the peasantry of 
the counties of Zips and Zemplin, and every one was 
fully convinced of its truth. The first commotion arose 
in Klucknow, where, it is said, some peasants died in 
consequence of taking the preservatives ; whether by an 
immoderate use of medicine, or whether they thought 
they were to take chloride of lime internally, is not 
known. This story, with a sudden and violent break- 
ing out of the cholera at Klucknow, led the peasants to 
a notion of the poisoning of the wells, which spread 
like lightning. In the sequel, in the attack of the estate 
of Count Czaki, a servant of the chief bailiff was on the 
point of being murdered, when, to save his life, he offer- 
ed to disclose something important. He said that he 
received from his master two pounds of poisonous pow- 
der, with orders to throw it into the wells, and, with an 
ax over his head, took oath publicly, in the church, to 
the truth of his statement. These statements, and the 
fact that the peasants, when they forcibly entered the 
houses of the land-owners, every where found chloride 
of lime, which they took for the poisonous powder, con- 
firmed their suspicions, and drove the people to mad- 
ness. In this state of excitement, they committed the 
most appalling excesses. Thus, for instance, when a 
detachment of thirty soldiers, headed by an ensign, at- 
tempted to restore order in Klucknow, the peasants, 
who were ten times their number, fell upon them ; the 
soldiers were released, but the ensign was bound, tor- 
tured with scissors and knives, then beheaded, and his 
head fixed on a pike as a trophy. A civil officer in 
company with the military was drowned, his carriage 
broken, and, chloride of lime being found in the car- 



232 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

riage, one of the inmates was compelled to eat it till he 
vomited blood, which again confirmed the notion of 
poison. On the attack of the house of the lord at Kluck- 
now, the countess saved her life by piteous entreaties ; 
but the chief bailiff, in whose house chloride of lime was 
unhappily found, was killed, together with his son, a 
little daughter, a clerk, a maid, and two students who 
boarded with him. So the bands went from village to 
village ; wherever a nobleman or a physician was found 
death was his lot ; and in a short time it was known 
that the high constable of the county of Zemplin, and 
several counts, nobles, and parish priests, had been mur- 
dered. A clergyman was hanged because^ he refused 
to take an oath that he had thrown poison into a well ; 
the eyes of a countess were put out, and innocent chil- 
dren cut to pieces. Count Czaki, having first ascer- 
tained that his family was safe, fled from his estate at 
the risk of his life ; but he was stopped at Kirtch- 
trauf, pelted with stones, and wounded all over, torn 
from his horse, and only saved by a worthy merchant 
who fell on him, crying, ' Now I have got the rascal.' 
He drew the count into a neighboring convent, where 
his wounds were dressed, and a refuge afforded him. 
His secretary was struck from his horse with an ax, but 
saved in a similar manner, and in the evening convey- 
ed with his master to Leutschau."* 

A little knowledge on the part of the peasantry would 
have prevented these horrible scenes. Had they learn- 
ed even the elements of physiology and chemistry, they 
would have known that cleanliness is essential to health 
at all times, and that during the prevalence of a malig- 
nant epidemic it is doubly needful. They would have 
known, also, that chloride of lime is nor a medicine to 
be taken internally, but that it is very useful for dis- 

* Quoted from au address delivered in Boston by Edward Everett. 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 233 

infecting offensive apartments, and that its tendency, 
when properly used, would be to counteract the cause 
of the disease which they so much dreaded. 

Among all nations, and in all ages of the world, ig 
norance has not only debarred mankind from many ex 
quisite and sublime enjoyments, but has created innu- 
merable unfounded alarms, which greatly increase the 
sum of human misery. In the early ages of the world, 
a total eclipse of the sun or of the moon was regarded 
with the utmost consternation, as if some unusual ca- 
tastrophe had been about to befall .the universe. Be- 
lieving that the moon in an eclipse was sickening or 
dying, through the influence of enchanters, the trem- 
bling spectators had recourse to the ringing of bells, 
the sounding of trumpets, the beating of brazen vessels, 
and to loud and horrid exclamations, in order to break 
the enchantment, and to drown the muttering of witches, 
that the moon might not hear them. Nor are such fool- 
ish opinions and customs yet banished from the world. 

Comets, too, with their blazing tails, were long re- 
garded, and still are by many, as harbingers of divine 
vengeance, presaging famines and inundations, or the 
downfall of princes and the destruction of empires. 
The northern lights have been frequently gazed at with 
similar apprehensions, whole provinces having been 
thrown into consternation by the fantastic corusca- 
tions of these lambent meteors. Some pretend to see 
in these harmless lights armies mixing in fierce encoun- 
ter and fields streaming with blood, while others be- 
hold states overthrown, earthquakes, inundations, pest- 
ilences, and the most dreadful calamities. Because 
some one or other of these calamities formerly happen- 
ed soon after the appearance of a comet or the blaze 
of an aurora, therefore they are considered either as 
the causes or the prognostics of such events. 



234 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

Popular ignorance has given rise to the practice of 
judicial astrology ; an art which, with all its foolish no- 
tions so fatal to the peace of mankind, has been prac- 
ticed in every period of time. Under a belief that the 
characters and the fates of men are dependent on the 
various aspects of the stars and conjunctions of the 
planets, the most unfounded apprehensions, as well as 
the most delusive hopes, have been excited by the pro- 
fessors of this fallacious science. Such impositions on 
the credulity of mankind are founded on the grossest 
absurdity and the most palpable ignorance of the na- 
ture of things ; still, in the midst of the light of science 
which the present century has shed upon the world, the 
astrologer meets with a rich support* even in the me- 
tropolis of Great Britain ; and soothsayers, if not as- 
trologers, get great gain by their craft in various por- 
tions of the United States. The extensive annual sale 
of hundreds of thousands of copies of almanacs that 
abound in astrological predictions in the United States 
and in Great Britain, and the extent to which they are 
consulted, affords a striking proof of the belief which is 
still attached to the doctrines of this fallacious science, 
and of the ignorance and credulity from which such a 
belief proceeds. 

Shooting stars, fiery meteors, lunar rainbows, and 
other atmospherical phenomena, have likewise been 
considered by some as ominous of impending calami- 
ties, but they are regarded in a very different light by 
scientific observers. The most sublime phenomenon 
of shooting stars of which the world has furnished any 
record was witnessed throughout the United States on 
the morning of the 13th of November, 1833. This as- 
tonishing exhibition covered no inconsiderable portion 
of the earth's surface. The first appearance was every 

* See Appendix to Dick's Improvement of Society, p. 338. 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 235 

where that of fire-works of the most imposing grand- 
eur, covering the entire vault of heaven with myriads 
of fire-balls resembling sky-rockets ; but the most brill- 
iant sky-rockets and fire-works of art bear less rela- 
tion to the splendors of this celestial exhibition than 
the twinkling of the most tiny star to the broad glare 
of the noonday sun. Their coruscations were bright, 
gleaming, and incessant, and they fell thick as the flakes 
in the early snows of December. The whole heavens 
seemed in motion, and suggested to some the awful 
grandeur of the image employed in the Apocalypse 
upon the opening of the sixth seal, when "the stars of 
heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig-tree casteth her 
untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind." 

While these scenes of grandeur were viewed with 
unspeakable delight by enlightened scientific observ- 
ers, the ignorant and superstitious were overpowered 
with horror and dismay. The description which a 
gentleman of South Carolina gave of the effect pro- 
duced by this phenomenon upon his ignorant blacks 
will apply well to many hardly better informed white 
persons. " I was suddenly awakened," said he, " by 
the most distressing cries that ever fell upon my ears. 
Shrieks of horror and cries of mercy I could hear from 
most of the negroes of three plantations, amounting in 
all to about six or eight hundred. While earnestly 
listening for the cause, I heard a faint voice near the 
door calling my name : I arose, and, taking my sword, 
stood at the door. At this moment I heard the same 
voice still beseeching me to rise and saying, ' O ! my 
God, the world is on fire !' I then opened the door, 
and it is difficult to say which excited me most, the 
awfulness of the scene or the distressed cries of the ne- 
groes. Upward of one hundred lay prostrate on the 
ground, some speechless, and some with the bitterest 



236 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

cries, but most with their hands raised, imploring God 
to save trie world and them. The scene was truly 
awful, for never did rain fail much thicker than the 
meteors fell toward the earth ; east, west, north, and 
south, it was the same." 

Those harmless meteors, the ignes fatui, which hover 
above moist and fenny places in the night-time, emitting 
a glimmering light, have been regarded by the igno- 
rant as malicious spirits endeavoring to deceive the be- 
wildered traveler and lead him to destruction. The 
plaintive note of the mourning dove, the ticking noise 
of the little insect called the death-watch, the howling 
of a dog in the night-time, the meeting of a bitch with 
whelps, or a snake lying in the road, the breaking of a 
looking-glass, and even the falling of salt from the table, 
and the curling of a fiber of wick in a burning candle, 
together with many other equally harmless incidents, 
have been regarded with apprehensions of terror, being 
considered as unfailing signs of impending disasters or 
of approaching death. 

Dr. Dick remarks, that in the Highlands of Scotland 
— and it should be borne in mind that the Scotch are, 
as a nation, better instructed, and more moral and re- 
ligious in their habits, than any other people in Europe 
— the motions and appearances of the clouds were, not 
long ago, considered ominous of disastrous events. On 
the evening before new year's day, if a black cloud ap- 
peared in any part of the horizon, it was thought to 
prognosticate a plague, a famine, or the death of some 
great man in that part of the country over which it 
seemed to hang ; and in order to ascertain the place 
threatened by the omen, the motions of the clouds were 
often watched through the whole night. In the same 
country, the inhabitants regard certain days as unlucky, 
or ominous of bad fortune. The day of the week on 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 237 

which the third of Mav falls is deemed unluckv through- 
out the year. 

With a very slight change, a part of this description 
would apply well to our own country, even up to the 
present time. How many thousands of days are lost 
annually in the United States in consequence of super- 
stitious fears in relation to setting out upon a journey, 
entering upon a new pursuit of any kind, or even be- 
ginning to plant or plow on Friday, the unlucky day 
of the Americans. How many persons have had mis- 
fortunes attend them all their lives because they were 
born, or christened, or married on Friday ! How many 
houses have been burned because they were begun, 
raised, or moved into on Friday ! How many steam- 
boats and vessels have been burned or wrecked because 
they were launched or sailed on Friday ! And yet, 
strange as it may seem, this is the very day on which 
Columbus set sail on a voyage that resulted in the dis- 
covery of the New World. 

Many people, and in some instances whole commu- 
nities, always commence plowing, sowing, and reap- 
ing on Tuesday, though by this rule the most favorable 
weather for these purposes is frequently lost. Others, 
again, will not, on any account, perform certain kinds 
of labor on Friday. The age of the moon is also much 
attended to in many parts of the world. Among the 
vulgar Highlanders, an opinion prevails, that if a house 
takes fire while the moon is in the decrease, the family 
will from that time decline in its circumstances and sink 
into poverty. In this country, equally unfounded and 
ridiculous opinions are entertained. Passing by the 
more commonly received opinions that if swine are 
killed in the old of the moon, the pork will shrink in the 
pot; that seed sown at this time will be less likely to 
do well, etc., etc., I will mention one or two instances 



238 THE IMPORTANCE O'F 

of opinions which, although equally well founded, are 
less commonly received, and which may therefore more 
forcibly impress the popular mind. A few years ago, 
I spent some months in a neighboring state, in a com- 
munity where the belief was commonly entertained 
that shingles should not be laid nor stakes driven in 
the old of the moon, because the former would be more 
likely to warp, and the latter to be thrown by the frost. 
The same and kindred opinions are extensively held in 
various portions of the United States. 

These are a few, and but a very few, of the supersti- 
tious notions and vain fears by which the great majori- 
ty of the human race, in every age and country, have 
been enslaved, as he who will take the pains to peruse 
Dr. Dick's admirable treatise on the improvement of so- 
ciety by the diffusion of knowledge can not fail to be 
convinced. That such absurd notions should ever have 
prevailed is a most grating and humiliating thought, 
when we consider the noble faculties with which man 
is endowed. That they still prevail to a great extent, 
even in our own country, is a striking proof that as yet 
we are, as a people, but just emerging from the gloom 
of intellectual darkness. The prevalence of such opin- 
ions is to be regretted, not only on account of the 
groundless alarms they create, but chiefly on account 
of the false ideas they inspire with regard to the na- 
ture of the Supreme Ruler of the universe, and of his 
arrangements in the government of the world. He 
whose mind is enlightened with true science perceives 
throughout all nature the most striking evidences of 
benevolent design, and rejoices in the benignity of the 
Great Parent of the universe, discovering nothing in 
the arrangements of the Creator, in any department of 
his works, which has a direct tendency to produce pain 
to any intelligent or sensitive being. The superstitious 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 239 

man, on the contrary, contemplates the sky, the air, 
the waters, and the earth as filled with malicious be- 
ings, ever ready to haunt him with terror or to plot 
his destruction. The former contemplates the Deity 
directing the movements of the material world by fix- 
ed and invariable laws, which none but himself can 
counteract or suspend. The latter views these move- 
ments as continually liable to be controlled by capri- 
cious and malignant beings to gratify the most trivial 
passions. How very different, of course, must be their 
conceptions and feelings respecting the attributes and 
government of the Supreme Being ! While the one 
views him as the infinitely wise and benevolent Father, 
whose paternal care and goodness inspire confidence 
and affection, the other must regard him, in a certain 
degree, as a capricious being, and offer up his adora- 
tions under the influence of fear. 

These and like notions have also an evident tendency 
to habituate the mind to false principles and processes 
of reasoning which unfit it for legitimate conclusions in 
its researches after truth. They manifestly chain down 
the understanding, and unfit it for the appreciation of 
those noble and enlarged views which revelation and 
modern science exhibit of the order, extent, and econo- 
my of the universe. It is lamentable to reflect that so 
many thousands of beings endowed with the faculty of 
reason, who can not by any means be persuaded of the 
motion of the earth, and the distances and magnitudes 
of the heavenly bodies, should swallow, without the 
least hesitation, opinions ten thousand times more im- 
probable. Notwithstanding the mathematical certain- 
ty of the truth of the Copernican system of astronomy, 
I have never yet become extensively acquainted with 
any community in which I have not found many per- 
sons professing a respectable degree of intelligence, 



240 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

and even official members of orthodox churches, who 
entirely discredit its sublime teachings ; and yet some 
of these very persons find little difficulty in believing 
that an old woman can transform herself into a hare, 
and wing her way through the air on a broomstick. 
What contracted notions such persons must have of the 
almightiness of the Deity, and of the infinite depth of 
meaning of the following and like passages of Scrip- 
ture: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the 
firmament showeth his handy work. Day unto day 
lUtereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowl- 
edge. — Ps. xix., 1-2. 

It has been already remarked, that the whole history 
of the world justifies the statement that ignorant and 
uncultivated mind is prone to sensuality and cruelty. 
Spain and Hungary were referred to in illustration. 
We are now prepared to remark, what is worse still, that 
where such superstitious notions as we have been con- 
sidering are held, even by persons who are somewhat 
educated, they almost invariably lead to the perpetra- 
tion of deeds of cruelty and injustice. Many of the 
barbarities committed in pagan countries, both in their 
religious worship and their civil polity, and most of the 
cruelties inflicted on the victims of the Romish Inquisi- 
tion, have flowed from this source.* Nor are the an- 
nals of Great Britain and the United States deficient in 
examples of this kind. About the commencement of 
the last century, the belief in witchcraft, which was al- 
most universal throughout Christendom, was held in 
both of these countries. The laws of England, which 
admitted its existence and punished it with death, were 

* In the Duchy of Lorraine, nine hundred females were delivered 
over to the flames for being witches, by one inquisitor alone. Under 
this accusation, it is reckoned that upward of thirty thousand women 
have pei'ished by the hands of the Inquisition. — Quoted by Dr. Dick 
from " Inquisition Unmasked" 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 241 

adopted by the Puritans of New England, and in less 
than twenty years from the founding of the colony, one 
individual was tried and executed for the supposed 
crime. Haifa century later the delusion broke out in 
Salem. A minister, whose daughter and niece were 
subject to convulsions accompanied by extraordinary 
symptoms, supposing they were bewitched, cast his sus- 
picions on an Indian woman who lived in the house, and 
who was whipped until she confessed herself a witch; 
and the truth of the confession, although obtained in this 
wav, was not doubted. During the same vear more 
than fifty persons were terrified into the confession of 
witchcraft, tw r enty of whom were put to death. Nei- 
ther age, sex, nor station afforded any safeguard against 
a charge for .this supposed crime. Women and chil- 
dren not only were its victims, but magistrates were 
condemned, and a clergyman of the highest respecta- 
bility was among the executed. So late as 1722 a 
woman was burned for witchcraft in Scotland, which 
Was among the last executions in that country. 

It appears that these superstitious notions, so far 
from being innocent and harmless speculations, lead to 
the most deplorable results ; they ought, therefore, to 
be undermined and thoroughly eradicated by all per- 
sons who wish to promote the happiness and well-being 
of general society. This duty is especially incumbent 
upon parents and teachers, and can be effected only by 
rendering correct early education universal. Igno- 
rance of the laws and economy of nature is the one great 
source of these absurd opinions. They have not only 
no foundation in nature or experience, but are directly 
opposed to both. In proportion, then, as we advance in 
our researches into Nature's economy and laws, shall w*e 
perceive their futility and absurdity. As in other cases, 
take away the cause, and the effect will be removed. 

L 



242 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

Education will dissipate all these evils. It is true 
that an acquaintance with a number of dead languages, 
with Roman and Grecian antiquities, with the subtle- 
ties of metaphysics, with pagan mythology, and with 
politics and poetry, may coexist with these supersti- 
tions, as was true in the case of the late Dr. Samuel 
Johnson, who believed in ghosts and in the second sight. 
However important in other respects these departments 
of an extensive and varied education may be, they do 
not form an effectual barrier against the admission of 
superstitious opinions. In order to do this, the mind 
must be directed to the study of the material universe, 
to contemplate the various appearances it presents, and 
to mark well the uniform results of those invariable 
law 7 s by which it is governed. In particular, the at- 
tention should be directed to those discoveries which 
have been made by philosophers in the different de- 
partments of nature and art during the last two cen- 
turies. For this purpose, the study of natural history, 
as recording the various facts respecting the atmos- 
phere, the waters, the earth, and animated beings, com- 
bined with the study of natural philosophy and astrono- 
my, as explaining the causes of the phenomena of na- 
ture, will have a happy tendency to eradicate from the 
mind superstitious and false notions, and at the same 
time will present to view objects of delightful contem- 
plation. Let a person be once thoroughly convinced 
that nature is uniform in her operations, and governed 
by regular laws impressed by an all-wise and benevo- 
lent Being, and he will soon be inspired with confi- 
dence, and will not easily be alarmed at any occasion- 
al phenomena which at first sight might appear as ex- 
ceptions to the general rule. 

Let persons be taught, for example, that eclipses are 
occasioned merely by the shadow of one opaque body 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 243 

falling upon another ; that they are the necessary result 
of the inclination of the moon's orbit to that of the earth ; 
that, if these orbits were in the same plane, there would 
be an eclipse of the sun and of the moon every month, 
the former occurring at the change, and the latter at 
the full of the moon ; that the times when they do actu- 
ally take place depend on the new or full moon hap- 
pening at or near the points of intersection of the orbits 
of the earth and moon, and that other planets which have 
moons experience eclipses of a similar nature. Let 
them also be taught that the comets are regular bodies 
belonging to our system, which finish their revolutions 
and appear and disappear in stated periods of time ; that 
the northern lights, though seldom seen in southern 
climes, are frequent in the regions of the North, and 
supply the inhabitants with light in the absence of the 
sun, and have probably a relation to the magnetic and 
electric fluids ; that the ignes fatui are harmless lights, 
formed by the ignition of a certain species of gas pro- 
duced in the soils above which they hover ; and that 
the notes of the death-watch, so far from being presages 
of death, are ascertained to be the notes of love and pre- 
sages of hymeneal intercourse among these little in- 
sects. 

Let rational information of this kind be imparted to 
people generally, and they will learn to contemplate 
nature with tranquillity and composure. A more bene- 
ficial effect than this will at the same time be produced, 
for those very objects which were formerly beheld 
with alarm will now be converted into sources of en- 
joyment, and be contemplated with emotions of delight. 

To remove the groundless apprehensions which 
arise from the fear of invisible and incorporeal beings, 
let persons be instructed in the various optical illusions 
to which we are subject, arising from the intervention 



2 14 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

of fogs, and the indistinctness of vision in the night-time, 
which makes us frequently mistake a bush that is near 
us for a large tree at a distance, and let them be taught 
that under the influence of these illusions a timid im- 
agination will transform the indistinct image of a cow 
or a horse into a terrific phantom of a monstrous size. 
Let them also be taught, by a selection of well-authen- 
ticated facts, the powerful influence of the imagination 
in creating ideal forms, especially when under the do- 
minion of fear ; the effects produced by the workings 
of conscience when harassed by guilt ; let them be 
taught the effects produced by lively dreams, by strong 
doses of opium, by drunkenness, hysteric passions, mad- 
ness, and other disorders that affect the mind. Let the 
experiments of optics, and the striking phenomena pro- 
duced by electricity, galvanism, magnetism, and the 
different gases, be exhibited to their view, together 
with details of the results which have been produced 
by various mechanical contrivances, In fine, let their 
attention be directed to the foolish, whimsical, and ex- 
travagant notions attributed to apparitions, and to their 
inconsistency with the wise and benevolent arrange- 
ments of the Governor of the universe. 

There is no rational foundation for entertaining any 
doubts but that, could such instructions as I have sug- 
gested be universally given, the effect would be the 
banishment of superstitions of the nature contemplated 
from among mankind ; for they have uniformly pro- 
duced this effect on every mind which has been thus en- 
lightened. Where is the man to be found whose mind 
is enlightened by the doctrines and discoveries of mod- 
ern science, and who yet remains the slave of super- 
stitious notions and vain fears ? Of all the philosophers 
of America and Europe, is there one who is alarm 
at an eclipse, at a comet, at an ignis fatuus, or at the 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 215 

notes of a death-watch ? or who postpones his experi- 
ments on account of what is called an unlucky day? 
Who ever heard of a specter appearing to such a per- 
son, dragging him from bed at the dead hour of mid- 
night, to wander through the forest, trembling with 
fear? Such beings appear only to the ignorant and 
illiterate, at least to those who are unacquainted with 
natural science, and we never hear of their appearing 
to any who did not previously believe in their exist- 
ence. But should philosophers be freed from such 
terrific visions, if substantia] knowledge has not the 
power of banishing them from the mind ? Why should 
supernatural beings feel so shy in conversing with men 
of science ? These would, indeed, be the fittest persons 
to whom they might impart their secrets, and commu- 
nicate information respecting the invisible world ; but it 
never falls to their lot to be favored with such visits. 
It may therefore be concluded that the diffusion of use- 
ful knowledge among mankind would infallibly dissi- 
pate those groundless fears which have banished much 
of happiness from the human family, and particularly 
among the lower orders of society.* 

* Dr. Dick, to whom I have frequently referred, and whose writings 
I have freely consulted, expresses in a note a sentiment in which I 
fully concur. " It would be unfair," says he, " to infer, from any ex- 
pression here used, that the author denies the possibility of supernat- 
ural visions and appearances. We are assured from the records of 
sacred history that beings of an order superior to the human race 
have ' at sundry times and in divers manners' made their appearance 
to men. But there is the most marked difference between vulgar ap- 
paritions and the celestial messengers to which the records of revela- 
tion refer. They appeared not to old women and clowns, but to pa- 
triarchs, prophets, and apostles. They appeared not to frighten the 
timid and to create unnecessary alarm, but to declare ' tidings of great 
joy.' They appeared not to reveal such paltry secrets as the place 
where a pot of gold or silver is concealed, or where a lost ring may be 
found, but to communicate intelligence worthy of a God to reveal, and 
of the utmost importance for man to receive. In these and many other 



246 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

I might, perhaps, safely dismiss this subject, and pro- 
ceed to the consideration of other topics ; but, before 
doing so, it may be well to state that many of the views 
here presented, and all that come within the range of 
the subjects discussed by him, are fully sustained by 
Dr. Lardner, whose popular lectures on science and art 
have been so well received both in Europe and Amer- 
ica. His publishers justly remark, that •* probably no 
public lecturer ever continued, for the same length of 
time, to collect around him so numerous audiences." 
The author himself states, in the preface to his Lec- 
tures,* that from November, 1841, when he commenced 
his public lectures in the lecture-room of Clinton Hall, 
in New York, to the close of the year 1844, when he 
concluded his public labors in this country, he " visited 
every considerable city and town of the Union, from 
Boston to New Orleans, and from New York to St. 
Louis. Most of the principal cities were twice visited, 
and several courses were given in Boston, New York, 
and Philadelphia. Nor did the appetite for this spe- 
cies of intellectual entertainment appear to flag by rep- 
etition." 

I can not forbear making a few quotations from the 
preface to the work under consideration, which are 
creditable to the comparative intelligence of the Amer- 
ican people, and show the avidity with which they seek 
instruction and useful knowledge. Dr. Lardner ob- 
serves, that "it was usual on each evening to deliver 
from two to four of the essays which compose the con- 
tents of the present volumes, and the duration of the 

respects, there is the most striking contrast between popular ghosts 
and the supernatural communications and appearances recorded in 
Scripture." 

* In two large volumes, published by Greeley and McElrath, New 
York. 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 247 

entertainment was from two to three hours. On every 
occasion the most profound interest was evinced on the 
part of the audience, and the most unremitting and si- 
lent attention was given. These assemblies consisted 
of persons of both sexes, of every age, from the elder 
classes of pupils in the schools to their grandfathers 
and grandmothers. Frequently the audiences amount- 
ed to twelve hundred, and sometimes, as at the Phila- 
delphia Museum, they exceeded two thousand. Nor 
was the manifestation of this interest confined, as might 
be imagined, to the northern Atlantic cities, where ed- 
ucation is known to be attended to, and where, as in 
New England, the diffusion of useful knowledge is re- 
garded as a paramount duty of the state. The same 
crowded assemblies were collected, for a long succes- 
sion of nights, in the largest theaters of each of the south- 
ern and western cities ; in the Charleston Theater ; the 
Mobile Theater ; the St. Charles Theater, New Orleans ; 
the Vicksburg and Jackson Theaters, Mississippi ; the 
St. Louis Theater, Missouri; and in the theaters of Cin- 
cinnati, Pittsburg, and other western and central cities. 

"It can not be denied that such facts are sympto- 
matic of a very remarkable condition of the public 
mind, more especially among a people who are admit- 
ted to be, more than any other nation, engrossed by 
money-getting and by the more material pursuits of 
life. The less pretension to eloquence and the attract- 
ive graces of oratory the lecturer can offer, the more 
surprising is the result, and the more creditable to the 
intelligence of the American people. It is certain that 
a similar intellectual entertainment, clogged, as it nec- 
essarily was, with a pecuniary condition of admission, 
would fail to attract an audience even in the most pol- 
ished and enlightened cities of Europe." 

While these statements are highly creditable to the 



248 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

American people, the lectures themselves contain par- 
agraphs which show that the popular mind even in our 
own country is not sufficiently enlightened to eradicate 
the superstitions just considered. 

The Moon and the Weather. — Dr. Lardner, in a 
lecture on the moon, in answer to the question, Does 
the moon influence the weather ? says, # It is asserted, 
first, that at the epochs of new and full moon, and at 
the quarters, there is generally a change -of weather; 
and, secondly, that the phases of the moon, or, in other 
words, the relative position of the moon and sun in re- 
gard to the earth, is the cause of these changes. Now 
these and kindred opinions are very extensively held 
in this countrv. But the doctor refers to meteorolos;- 
ical tables, constructed in various countries after the 
most extensive and careful observation, and the result 
is that no correspondence exists between the condition 
of the weather and the phases of the moon. He hence, 
after a full examination, comes to the conclusion that 
" the condition of the weather as to change, or in any 
other respect, has, as a matter of fact, no correspondence 
whatever with the lunar phases." 

In another lecture on the moon and the weather, the 
following decisive opinion is expressed: "From all that 
has been stated, it follows then, conclusively, that the 
popular notions concerning the influence of the lunar 
phases on the weather have no foundation in the the- 
ory, and no correspondence with observed facts. "f 

Time for Felling Timber. — In another lecture on 
lunar influences, Dr. Lardner observes that " there is an 
opinion generally entertained that timber should be 
felled only during the decline of the moon ; for if it be 
cut down during its increase, it will not be of a good or 

* See Lectures on Science and Art, vol. i., p. 315. 
t Ibid., p. 419-420. 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 249 

durable quality. This impression prevails in various 
countries. It is acted upon in England, and is made 
the ground of legislation in France. The forest laws 
of the latter country interdict the cutting of timber du- 
ring the increase of the moon. In the extensive forests 
of Germany, the same opinion is entertained and acted 
upon, with the most undoubting confidence in its truth. 
Sauer, a superintendent of some of these districts, as- 
signs what he believes to be its physical cause. Ac- 
cording to him, the increase of the moon causes the sap 
to ascend in the timber, and, on the other hand, the de- 
crease of the moon causes it to descend. If the timber, 
therefore, be cut during the decrease of the moon, it 
will be - cut in a dry state, the sap having retired, and 
the wood, therefore, will be compact, solid, and durable. 
But if it be cut during the increase of the moon, it will 
be felled with the sap in it, and will therefore be more 
spongy, more easily attacked by worms, more difficult 
to season, and more readily split and warped by changes 
of temperature. 

"Admitting for a moment the reality of this suppo- 
sition concerning the motion of the sap, it would follow 
that the proper time for felling the timber would be 
the new moon, that being the epoch at which the descent 
of the sap would have been made, and the ascent not 
yet commenced. But can there be imagined, in the 
whole range of natural science, a physical relation 
more extraordinary and unaccountable than this sup- 
posed correspondence betw T een the movement of the 
sap and the phases of the moon? Assuredly theory 
affords not the slightest countenance to such a suppo- 
sition ; but let us inquire as to the fact whether it be 
really the case that the quality of timber depends upon 
the state of the moon at the time it is felled. 

" M. Duhamel Monceau, a celebrated French agri- 

L2 



250 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

culturist, has made direct and positive experiments for 
the purpose of testing this question, and has clearly and 
conclusively shown that the qualities of timber felled 
in different parts of the lunar month are the same. M. 
Duhamel felled a great many trees of the same age, 
growing from the same soil, and exposed to the same 
aspect, and never found any difference in the quality 
of the timber, when he compared those which were 
felled in the decline of the moon with those which were 
felled during its increase : in general, they have afforded 
timber of the same quality. He adds, however, that 
by a circumstance which was doubtless fortuitous, a 
slight difference was manifested in favor of timber 
which had been felled between the new and full moon, 
contrary to popular opinion?' 

Supposed Lunar Influences. — It is an aphorism re- 
ceived by all gardeners and agriculturists in Europe, 
remarks the same author, that vegetables, plants, and 
trees, which are expected to flourish and grow with 
vigor, should be planted, grafted, and pruned during 
the increase of the moon. This opinion, however, he 
thinks is altogether erroneous ; for the experiments 
and observations of several French agriculturists have 
clearly established the fact that the increase or de- 
crease of the moon has no appreciable influence on the 
phenomena of vegetation. 

This erroneous prejudice prevails also on the Amer- 
ican continent. A French author states that, in Brazil, 
cultivators plant during the decline of the moon all 
vegetables whose roots are used as food, and that, on 
the contrary, they plant during the increasing moon 
the sugar-cane, maize, rice, beans, etc., and those which 
bear the food upon their stocks and branches. Experi- 
ments, however, were made and reported by M. de 
Chauvalon, at Martinique, on vegetables of both kinds, 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 251 

planted at different times in the lunar month, and no 
appreciable difference in their qualities was discovered. 

There are some traces of a principle adopted by the 
South American agronomes (farmers), according to 
which they treat the two classes of plants distinguished 
by the production of fruit on their roots or on their 
branches differently; but there are none in the Euro- 
pean aphorisms. The directions of Pliny are still more 
specific: he prescribes the time of the full moon for 
sowing beans, and that of the new moon for lentils. 
''Truly," says M. Arago, "we have need of a robust 
faith to admit, without proof, that the moon, at the dis- 
tance of two hundred and forty thousand miles, shall, 
in one position, act advantageously upon the vegetation 
of beans, and that in the opposite position, and at the 
same distance, she shall be propitious to leyitils" 

Dr. Lardner gives numerous and extended illustra- 
tions of the supposed influence of the moon on the 
growth of grain, on wine-making,* on the color of the 
complexion, on putrefaction, on the size of shell-fish, on 
the quantity of marrow in the bones of animals, on the 
number of births, on mental derangement, and other 
human maladies, etc., etc. 

The influence on the phenomena of human maladies 
imputed to the moon is very ancient, Hippocrates had 
so strong a faith in the influence of celestial objects upon 
animated beings, that he expressly recommends no phy- 
sician to be trusted who is ignorant of astronomy. Ga- 
len, following Hippocrates, maintained the same opin- 
ion, especially of the influence of the moon. The crit- 
ical days, or crises, were the seventh, fourteenth, and 
twenty-first of the disease, corresponding to the inter- 
vals between the moon's principal phases. While the 

* On this subject the prevailing opinions in different countries dis- 
agree, as they do also on some of the others. 



252 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

doctrine of alchemists prevailed, the human body was 
considered as a microcosm, or an epitome of the uni- 
verse, the heart representing the sun, and the brain the 
moon. The planets had each his proper influence : 
Jupiter presided over the lungs, Saturn over the spleen, 
Venus over the kidneys, and Mercury over the organs 
of generation. The term lunacy, which still designates 
unsoundness of mind, is a relic of these grotesque no- 
tions, and is defined by Dr. Webster as "a species of 
insanity or madness, formerly supposed to be influ- 
enced by the moon, or periodical in the month." But 
even this term may now be said, in some degree, to be 
banished from the nomenclature of medicine ; it has, 
however, taken refuge in that receptacle of all anti- 
quated absurdities of phraseology — the law — lunatic 
being still the term for the subject who is incapable of 
managing his own affairs. 

Sanctorius, whose name is celebrated in physics for 
the invention of the thermometer, held it as a principle 
that a healthy man gained two pounds' weight at the 
beginning of every lunar month, which he lost toward 
its completion. This opinion appears to have been 
founded on experiments made upon himself, and affords 
another instance of a fortuitous coincidence hastily 
generalized. 

For all the progress that has been made in this 
country toward the removal from the popular mind 
of the numerous corrupting and debasing absurdities 
which have hitherto enslaved it, we are indebted to our 
enlightened and chastened systems of popular educa- 
tion ; and to these, and to these only, may we confi- 
dently look for entire freedom from the thraldom. 



POPULAR EDUCATION. k5'J 



EDUCATION INCREASES THE PRODUCTIVENESS OF LABOR. 

Education has a power of ministering to our personal and material 
wants beyond all other agencies, whether excellence of climate, spon- 
taneity of production, mineral resources, or mines of silver and sold. 
Every wise parent, every wise community, desiring the prosperity of 
its children even in the most worldly sense, will spare no pains in giv- 
ing them a generous education. — Horace Mann. 

The best educated are always the best paid. — Foreign Report. 

The desirableness of education is manifest, view it 
in what light we may, and whether as affecting indi- 
viduals or communities. We have already seen that 
education, and that alone, will dissipate the evils of ig- 
norance/ We now propose to discuss the equally tena- 
ble proposition that education increases the productive- 
ness of labor. 

That knowledge is power has become a proverb. 
If it be asked why the labor of a man is more valuable 
than the same amount of physical effort put forth by a 
brute, the ready answer is, It is because man combines 
intelligence with his labor. A single yoke of oxen will 
do more in one day at plowing than forty men ; yet 
the oxen may be had for fifty cents a day, while each 
of the men can earn a dollar. Physical exertion in 
this case, combined with ordinary skill, is eighty times 
more valuable than the same amount of brute force. 
The strength of the ox is of no account without some 
one to guide and apply it, while the power of man is 
guided by intelligence within. 

In proportion as man's intelligence increases is his 
labor more valuable. A small compensation is the re- 
ward of mere physical power, while skill, combined 
with a moderate amount of strength, commands high 
wages. The labor of an ignorant man is scarcely 
more valuable than the same amount of brute force ; 



254 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

but the services of an intelligent, skillful person are a 
hundred fold more productive. I will pause and illus- 
trate, for I wish to have every person who arises from 
the perusal of these pages do so with the fullest con- 
viction that mental culture is of the highest importance 
even in the ordinary departments of human industry. 
It is, indeed, hardly less important for the man of busi- 
ness, the farmer, or the mechanic, than for statesmen, 
legislators, and members of the so-called learned pro- 
fessions. 

An intelligent farmer of my acquaintance having a 
piece of greensward to break up, and having three 
work-horses, determined to employ them all. He 
hence, possessing some mechanical skill, himself con- 
structed a three-horse whipple-tree, by means of which 
he advantageously combined the strength of his horses. 
A less intelligent neighbor, pleased with the novel ap- 
pearance of three horses working abreast, resolved to 
try the experiment himself. But not possessing the 
skill requisite to construct such a whipple-tree, he wait- 
ed till his better-informed and more expert neighbor 
had got through with his, and then, borrowing it, tried 
the experiment with his own team. Early one morn- 
ing, and full of expectation, aided by his two sons and 
a hired man, he harnessed his three horses to the piow. 
But one of them, for the first time, refused to draw. 
After several fruitless attempts to make the team work 
as first harnessed, the relative position of the horses 
was changed, when, lo ! although this horse would 
draw as formerly, one of the others would not. By 
and by another change was made, and the third horse, 
in turn, refused to draw. The farmer could not under- 
stand it, nor his sons, nor his hired man. His three 
horses, for the first time, were each fickle in turn. 
And, what was most surprising, they would all work 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 255 

in either of two positions, but in the third none of them 
would draw. The honest farmer thought the age of 
witchcraft had not yet passed. At the conclusion of 
the forenoon he gave up the undertaking in disgust, 
and, carrying the whipple-tree home, told the story of 
his unsuccessful and vexatious experiment. 

u And how did you harness the horses to the whipple- 
tree ?" inquired the more intelligent farmer. " Why, 
one at the short end, and two at the long end, where 
there is the most room for them, to be sure !" was the 
frank reply. 

The power at the short end, I need not say, should 
be twice that at the long end ; whereas he had it re- 
versed. One horse drew against two with a double 
purchase. He then would have to draw twice as much 
as both of them, or four times as much as one of them. 
The fickleness of the horses, then, instead of being the 
result of witchcraft, as he was inclined to believe, was 
chargeable solely to the ignorance of their hardly more 
intelligent master. A knowledge of the first principles 
of mechanics, or, in the absence of this, an ordinary 
degree of active, available common sense, would teach 
the proper use of such a whipple-tree. For want of 
this knowledge, the farmer suffered much chagrin, lost 
the time of four men, and did great injury to his team. 

After mentioning this circumstance on a certain oc- 
casion, a gentleman present gave a parallel case, that 
occurred under his immediate observation. His neigh- 
bor had a yoke of oxen, one of which was large, strong, 
and beautiful. One day, as the neighbor was passing 
the residence of the gentleman, the latter remarked to 
him, " You have one very fine-looking ox." " Yes," 
replied the neighbor, with apparent satisfaction, "and 
a bonny fellow he is too. He can carry the long end of 
the yoke, and grow fat under it." Here, again, the weak- 



250 Till 1 IMPORTANCE OF 

er ox had to tax his strength doubly on account of the 
advantage which the ignorance of his kind master had 
unintentionally given to his superior yoke-fellow. 

A farmer, or laborer of any kind, who possesses a 
knowledge of the merest elements of science, and is ac- 
customed to think and investigate, can not only work 
more advantageously with his team, but he can do 
more work himself, and do it easier too, than his neigh- 
bor of superior physical strength, though of inferior 
mental capacity. The correctness of this statement 
may be satisfactorily proved and amply illustrated in 
loading timber, in moving buildings, in plowing, and in 
almost every kind of work done on a farm or among 
men, either on land or at sea. The ignorant man will 
spend more time in running after help to do a supposed 
difficult job, than it will require for a skillful one to do 
it alone. This is true in carpentry, and in all of the 
mechanic arts. Increase the practical and available 
education of the laborer, and you enable him to do more 
work, and better work too, than his less informed asso- 
ciate. The following is a striking illustration. 

A practical teacher employed some mechanics to 
build him a barn. The day after the frame was raised, 
the teacher discovered that it needed to be turned a 
few inches upon its foundation, to range properly with 
other buildings. While the mechanics went in several 
directions to procure what they regarded as necessary 
help, the teacher, who was familiar with the various 
combinations of the lever, effected the work alone, and 
before their return ! Other equally striking illustra- 
tions might be cited. 

But education increases the productiveness of labor 
in a wider and more extended sense. By its omnipo- 
tent influence, man is enabled to lay the elements under 
tribute. The water and the wind, by its mysterious 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 257 

power, are made to propel his machinery for various 
purposes. The utmost skill of the untutored savage 
enables him to construct a rude canoe which two can 
carry upon their shoulders by land, which is barely 
capable of plying upon our rivers and coasting our in- 
land seas, and which can be propelled only by human 
muscles, but the educated man erects a magnificent ves- 
sel, a floating palace, and, spreading his. canvas to the 
breeze, aided by the mariner's compass, can traverse 
unknown seas in safety. To such perfection has he 
attained in the science and art of navigation, that he 
contends successfully with wind and tide, and makes 
headway against both, even when he depends upon the 
former for his motive power. Yes, education enables 
man even to tax the gentle breeze to urge a proud ship, 
heavily laden, up an inclined plane, thousands of miles, 
against the current of a mighty river. 

I can not, perhaps, so satisfactorily establish the prop- 
osition which I am now endeavoring to elucidate, nor 
so well maintain the universality of its application, as 
by referring to the writings of the most indefatigable 
and successful laborer in the department of popular 
education of which our country can boast. I refer to 
the Hon. Horace Mann,* who, a few years ago, in his 
official capacity, opened a correspondence, and availed 
himself of all opportunities to hold personal interviews 
with many of the most practical, sagacious, and intel- 
ligent business men in our country, who for many 
years had had large numbers of persons in their em- 
ployment. His object was to ascertain the difference 
in the productive ability, where natural capacities were 

* Late Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education. Refer- 
ence is here especially made to his Fifth Annual Report, bearing date 
January 1, 1842, from which, with his consent, what follows under this 
head has been substantially drawn. 



258 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

equal, between the educated and the uneducated; be- 
tween a man or a woman whose mind has been awak- 
ened to thought, and supplied with the rudiments of 
knowledge by a good common school education, and 
one whose faculties have never been developed, or 
aided in emerging from their original darkness and 
torpor by such a privilege. For this purpose he con- 
ferred and corresponded w r ith manufacturers of all 
kinds — with machinists, engineers, railroad contractors, 
officers in the army, etc. ; classes which have means of 
determining the effects of education on individuals 
equal in their natural abilities that other classes do 
not possess. 

A farmer hiring a laborer for one season who has 
received a good common school education, and the 
ensuing season hiring another who has not enjoyed this 
advantage, although he may be personally convinced 
of the relative value or profitableness of their services, 
yet he will rarely have any exact data or tests to refer 
to by which he can measure the superiority of the 
former over the latter. They do not work side by 
side, so that he can institute a comparison between the 
amounts of labor they perform. They may cultivate 
different fields, where the ease of tillage or the fertility 
of the soils may be different. They may rear crops 
under the influence of different seasons, so that he can 
not discriminate between what is referable to the boun- 
ty of nature and what to superiority in judgment or 
skill. 

Similar difficulties exist in estimating the amount and 
value of female labor in the household. And as to the 
mechanic also — the carpenter, the mason, the black- 
smith, the tool-maker of any kind — there are a thou- 
sand circumstances, which we call accidental, that min- 
gle their influence in giving quality and durability to 



PO?ULAit EDUCATION. 259 

their work, and prevent us from making a precise esti- 
mate of the relative value of any two men's handicraft. 
Individual differences, too, in regard to a single article 
or a single days' work, may be too minute to be no- 
ticed or appreciated, while the aggregate of these dif- 
ferences at the end of a few years may make all the 
difference between a poor man and a rich one. No 
observing man can have failed to notice the difference 
between two workmen, one of whom, to use a proverb- 
ial expression, always " hits the nail on the head," while 
the other loses half his strength and destroys half his 
nails by the awkwardness of his blows ; but perhaps 
few men have thought of the difference in the results 
of two such men's labor at the end of twenty vears. 

m * 

But when hundreds of men or women work side by 
side in the same factory, at the same machinery, in 
making the same fabrics, and, by a fixed rule of the 
establishment, labor the same number of hours each 
day ; and when, also, the products of each operative 
can be counted in number, weighed by the pound, or 
measured by the yard or cubic foot, then it is perfect- 
ly practicable to determine, with arithmetical exact- 
ness, the productions of one individual and class as 
compared with those of another individual and class. 

So, where there are different kinds of labor, some 
simple, others complicated, and of course requiring dif- 
ferent degrees of intelligence and skill, it is easy to ob- 
serve what class of persons rise from a lower to a higher 
grade of employment. 

This, too, is not to be forgotten, that in a manufao 
turing or mechanical establishment, or among a set ot 
hands engaged in filling up a valley or cutting down a 
hill, where scores of people are working together, the 
absurd and adventitious distinctions of society do not 
intrude. The capitalist and his agents are looking for 



20D THE IMPORTANCE Of 

the greatest amount of labor or the largest income in 
money from their investments, and they do not promote*, 
a dunce to a station where lie will destroy raw ma- 
terial or slacken industry because of his name, or birth, 
or family connections. The obscurest and humblest 
person has a fair field for competition. That he proves 
himself capable of earning more money for his employ- 
ers is a testimonial better than a diploma from all the 
colleges. 

Now many of the most intelligent and valuable men 
in the community,, in compliance with Mr. Mann's re- 
quest, examined their books for a series of years, and 
ascertained both the quality and the amount of work 
performed by persons in their employment, and the re- 
sult of the investigation is a most astonishing superiority 
in productive power on the part of the educated over 
the uneducated laborer. The hand is found to be an- 
other hand when guided by an intelligent mind. Pro- 
cesses are performed not only more rapidly, but bet- 
ter, when faculties which have been exercised in early 
life furnish their assistance. Individuals who, without 
the aid of knowledge* would have been condemned to 
perpetual inferiority of condition, and subjected to all 
the evils of want and poverty, rise to competence and 
independence by the uplifting power of education. In 
great establishments, and among large bodies of labor- 
ing men, where all services are rated according to their 
pecuniary value ; where there are no extrinsic circum- 
stances to bind a man down to a fixed position after he 
has shown a capacity to rise above it ; where, indeed, 
men pass by each other, ascending or descending in 
their grades of labor just as easily and certainly as par- 
ticles of water of different degrees of temperature glide 
by each other — under such circumstances it is found, 
as an almost invariable fact, other things being equal, 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 2G1 

that those who have been blessed with a good common 
school education rise to a higher and a higher point in 
the kinds of labor performed, and also in the rate of 
wages received, while the ignorant sink like dregs, and 
are always found at the bottom. 

James K. Mills, Esq., of Boston, who has been con- 
nected with a house that has had for the last ten years 
the principal direction of cotton-mills, machine shops, 
and calico-printing works, in which are constantly em- 
ployed about three thousand persons, and whose opin- 
ions of the effects of a common school education upon 
a manufacturing population are the result of personal 
observation and inquiries, and are confined to the testi- 
mony of the overseers and agents who are brought 
into immediate contact with the operatives, expresses 
the conviction that the rudiments of a common school 
education are essential to the attainment of skill and 
expertness as laborers, or to consideration and respect 
in the civil and social relations of life ; that very few 
who have not enjoyed the advantages of a common 
school education ever rise above the lowest class of 
operatives, and that the labor of this class, when it is 
employed in manufacturing operations which require 
even a very moderate degree of manual or mental dex- 
terity, is unproductive ; that a large majority of the 
overseers and others employed in situations which re- 
quire a high degree of skill in particular branches — 
which oftentimes require a good general knowledge of 
business, and always an unexceptionable moral char- 
acter — have made their way up from the condition of 
common laborers, with no other advantage over a large 
proportion of those they have left behind than that de- 
rived from a better education. 

A statement made from the books of one of the man- 
ufacturing companies will show the relative number 



262 THV IMPORTANCE OF 

of the two classes, and the earnings of each ; and this 
mill, we are assured, may be taken as a fair index of 
all the others. The average number of operatives em- 
ployed for the last three years is twelve hundred. Of 
this number there are forty-five unable to write their 
names, or about three and three fourths per cent. The 
average of women's wages, in the departments requir- 
ing the most skill, is two dollars and fifty cents per 
week, exclusive of board. The average wages of the 
lowest departments is one dollar and twenty-five cents 
per week. 

Of the forty-five who are unable to write, twenty- 
nine, or about two thirds, are employed in the lowest 
department. The difference between the wages earned 
by the forty-five and the average w r ages of an equal 
number of the better-educated class is about twenty- 
seven per cent, in favor of the latter. The difference 
between the wages earned by twenty-nine of the low- 
est class and the same number in the higher is sixty- 
six per cent. Of seventeen persons filling the most 
responsible stations in the mills, ten have grown up 
in the establishment from common laborers or appren- 
tices. 

This statement does not include an importation of 
sixty-three persons from Manchester, in England, in 
1839. Among these persons there was scarcely one 
who could read or write ; and although a part of them 
had been accustomed to work in cotton-mills, yet, either 
from incapacity or idleness, they were unable to earn 
sufficient to pay for their subsistence, and at the expi- 
ration of a few weeks not more than half a dozen re- 
mained in the employment of the company. 

In some of the print-works a large proportion of the 
operatives are foreigners. Those who are employed 
in the branches which require a considerable degree 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 2(73 

of skill are as well educated as our people in similar 
situations. But the common laborers, as a class, are 
without any education, and their average earnings are 
about two thirds only of those of our lowest classes, al- 
though the prices paid to each are the same for the 
same amount of work. 

Among the men and boys employed in the machine 
shops, the want of education is quite rare. Mr. Mills 
does not know an instance of a person so employed 
who is unable to read and write ; and many have a 
good common school education. To this, he thinks, 
may be attributed the fact that a large proportion of 
persons who fill the higher and more responsible situ- 
ations come from this class of workmen. From these 
statements the' reader will be able to form some esti- 
mate, in dollars and cents, at least, of the advantages 
of even a little education to the operative ; and there is 
not the least doubt, says the same authority, that the em- 
ployer is equally benefited. He has the security for 
his property that intelligence, good morals, and a just 
appreciation of the regulations of his establishment al- 
ways afford. His machinery and mills, which consti- 
tute a large part of his capital, are in the hands of per- 
sons who, by their skill, are enabled to use them to 
their utmost capacity, and to prevent any unnecessary 
depreciation. 

Each operative in a cotton-mill, according to the es- 
timate of Mr. Mills, may be supposed to represent from 
one thousand to twelve hundred dollars of the capital 
invested in the mill and its machinery. It is only from 
the most diligent and economical use of this capital that 
the proprietor can expect a profit. A fraction less than 
one half of the cost of manufacturing common cotton 
goods when a mill is in full operation, is made up of 
charges which are permanent. If the product is re- 



264 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

duced in the ratio of the capacity of the two classes ot 
operatives mentioned in this statement, it will be seen 
that the cost will be increased in a compound ratio. 
Mr. Mills expresses the opinion "that the best cotton- 
mill in New England, with such operatives only as the 
forty-five mentioned above, who are unable to write 
their names, would never yield the proprietor a profit ; 
that the machinery would be soon worn out, and he 
would be left, in a short time, with a population no 
better than that which is represented by the importa- 
tion from England. I can not imagine any situation 
in life," he continues, " where the want of a common 
school education would be more severely felt, or be at- 
tended with worse consequences, than in manufacturing 
villages ; nor, on the other hand, is there any where 
such advantages can be improved with greater benefit 
to all parties. There is more excitement and activity 
in the minds of people living in masses, and if this ex- 
pends itself in any of the thousand vicious indulgences 
with which they are sure to be tempted, the road to 
destruction is traveled over with a speed exactly cor- 
responding to the power employed." 

H. Bartlett, Esq., of Lowell, who has been engaged 
ten years in manufacturing, and has had the constant 
charge of from four hundred to nine hundred persons 
during that time, has come in contact with a very 
great variety of character and disposition, and has seen 
mind applied to production in the mechanic and man- 
ufacturing arts possessing different degrees of intelli- 
gence, from gross ignorance to a high degree of culti- 
vation, and he has no hesitation in affirming that he 
finds the best educated to be the most profitable help. 
Even those females who merely tend machinery give a 
result somewhat in proportion to the advantages enjoyed 
in early life for education, those who have a good 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 265 

common school education giving, as a class, invariably 
a better production than those brought up in ignorance. 

In regard to the domestic and social habits of persons 
in his employ, the same gentleman adds, " I have never 
considered mere knowledge, valuable as it is to the la- 
borer, as the only advantage derived from a good com- 
mon school education. I have uniformly found the 
better educated, as a class, possessing a higher and 
better state of morals, more orderly and respectful in 
their deportment, and more ready to comply with the 
wholesome and necessary regulations of an establish- 
ment. And in times of agitation, on account of some 
change in regulations or wages, I have always looked 
to the most intelligent, best educated, and the most 
moral for support, and have seldom been disappointed ; 
for, while they are the last to submit to imposition, 
they reason, and if your requirements are reasonable, 
they will generally acquiesce, and exert a salutary in- 
influence upon their associates. But the ignorant and 
uneducated I have generally found the most turbulent 
and troublesome, acting under the influence of excited 
passion and jealousy. 

" The former appear to have an interest in sustain- 
ing good order, while the latter seem more reckless of 
consequences. And, to my mind, all this is perfectly 
natural. The better educated have more and stronger 
attachments binding them to the place where they are. 
They are generally neater in their persons, dress, and 
houses ; surrounded with more comforts, with fewer 
of ' the ills flesh is heir to.' In short, I have found the 
educated, as a class, more cheerful and contented, de- 
voting a portion of their leisure time to reading and in- 
tellectual pursuits, more with their families, and less in 
scenes of dissipation. The good effect of all this is 
seen in the more orderly and comfortable appearance 

M 



266 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

of the whole household, but nowhere more strikingly 
than in the children. A mother who has a good com- 
mon school education will rarely suffer her children to 
grow up in ignorance. As I have said, this class of 
persons are more quiet, more orderly, and, I may add, 
more regular in their attendance upon public worship, 
and more punctual in the performance of all their duties." 

Mr. Bartlett thinks it would be very difficult, if not 
impossible, for a young man, who has not an education 
equal to a good common school education, to rise from 
grade to grade until he should obtain the berth of an 
overseer, and that, in making promotions, as a general 
thing, it would be unnecessary to make inquiry as to 
the education of the young men from whom you would 
select. Very seldom indeed, he says, would an unedu- 
cated young man rise to "a better place and better pay. 
Young men who expect to resort to manufacturing 
establishments for employment, can not prize too high- 
ly a good education. It will give them standing among 
their associates, and be the means of promotion among 
their employers" 

The final remark of this gentleman, in a lengthy let- 
ter, showing the advantages of education in a pecunia- 
ry, social, and moral point of view, is, that " those who 
possess the greatest share in the stock of worldly goods 
are deeply interested in this subject, as one of mere in- 
surance ; that the most effectual way of making insur- 
ance on their property would be to contribute from it 
enough to sustain an efficient system of common school 
education, thereby educating the whole mass of mind, and 
constituting it a police more effectual than peace officers 
and prisons." By so doing he thinks they would be- 
stow a benefaction upon those who, from the accident 
of birth or parentage, are subjected to the privations 
and temptations of poverty, and would do much to re- 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 267 

move the prejudice and to strengthen the bands of 
union between the different and extreme portions of so- 
ciety. He very justly regards it a wise provision of 
Providence which connects so intimately, and, as he 
thinks, so indissolubly, the greatest good of the many 
with the highest interest of the few ; or, in other words, 
which unites into one brotherhood all the members of 
the community, and in the existing partnership con- 
nects inseparably the interests of Labor and Capital.* 
John Clark, Esq., of Lowell, who has had under his 
superintendence for eight years about fifteen hundred 
persons of both sexes, gives concurrent testimony. 
He has found, with very few exceptions, the best edu- 
cated among his hands to be the most capable, intelli- 
gent, energetic, industrious, economical, and moral, 
and that they produce the best work, and the most of 
it, with the least injury to the machinery. They are, 
in short, in all respects the most useful, profitable, and 
the safest operatives ; and as a class, they are more 
thrifty, and more apt to accumulate property for them- 
selves. " I am very sure," he remarks, " that neither 
men of property nor society at large have any thing 
to fear from a more general diffusion of knowledge, nor 
from the extension and improvement of our system of 
common schools. On our pay-roll for the last month 
are borne the names of twelve hundred and twenty- 
nine female operatives, forty of whom receipted for 

* The New York Free School State Convention, held in Syracuse 
the 10th and 11th of July inst. (1850), vnanimously adopted an Address 
to the People of the State, written by Horace Greeley, in which the 
following passage occurs, inculcating the same sentiment : " Property 
is deeply interested in the Education of All. There is no farm, no bank, 
no mill, no shop — unless it be a grog-shop — which is not more valua- 
ble and more profitable to its owner if located among a well-educated 
than if surrounded by an ignorant population. Simply as a matter of 
interest, we hold it to be the duty of Property to i'srJf to provide Educa- 
tion for All." 



268 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

their pay by ' making their mark.' Twenty-six of these 
have been employed in job work ; that is, they are paid 
according to the quantity of work turned off from their 
machines. The average pay of these twenty-six falls 
eighteen and one half per cent, below the general av- 
erage of those engaged in the same departments. 

" Again : we have in our mills about one hundred 
and fifty females who have at some time been engaged 
in teaching schools. Many of them teach during the 
summer months, and work in the mills in winter. The 
average wages of these ex-teachers I find to be seven- 
teen and three fourths per cent, above the general aver- 
age of our mills, and about forty per cent, above the 
twenty-six who can not write their names. It may be 
said they are generally employed in the higher depart- 
ments, where the pay is better. This is true ; but this 
again may be, in most cases, fairly attributed to their 
better education, which brings us to the same result. 
If I had included in my calculations the remaining four- 
teen of the forty, who were mostly sweepers and scrub- 
bers, and who are paid by the day, the contrast would 
have been still more striking ; but, having no well-edu- 
cated females in this department with whom to com- 
pare them, I have omitted them altogether. In arriving 
at the above results, I have considered the net wages 
merely, the price of board being in all cases the same. 
I do not consider these results as either extraordinary 
or surprising, but as a part only of the legitimate and 
proper fruits of a better cultivation, and fuller develop- 
ment of the intellectual and moral powers." 

Mr. Mann gives the entire letters from which I have 
so freely drawn, and also introduces into his report ex- 
tracts from a letter of Jonathan Crane, Esq., who has 
Deen for many years a large rail-road contractor, and 
has had several thousand men in his employment. 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 269 

The testimony of this gentleman is corroborative of 
that already presented. Testimony similar to the pre- 
ceding might be introduced from the proprietors and 
superintendents of the principal manufacturing estab- 
lishments in America not only, but from every part of 
the civilized world. Before concluding this chapter, I 
shall, for another purpose, refer to statements made by 
extensive manufacturers in England and Switzerland. 

These are no more than a fair specimen of a mass 
of facts which Mr. Mann obtained from the most au- 
thentic sources. They seem to prove incontestably 
that education is not only a moral renovator, and a 
multiplier of intellectual power, but that it is also the 
most prolific parent of material riches. It has a right, 
therefore, not only to be included in the grand invento- 
ry of a nation's resources, but to be placed at the very 
head of that inventory. It is not only the most honest 
and honorable, but the surest means of amassing prop- 
erty. Considering education, then, as a producer of 
wealth, it follows that the more educated a people are, 
the more will they abound in all those conveniences, 
comforts, and satisfactions which money will buy ; 
and, other things being equal, the increase of compe- 
tency and the decline of pauperism will be measurable 
on this scale. 

Education and Agriculture. — The healthful and 
praiseworthy employment of agriculture requires 
knowledge for its successful prosecution. In this de- 
partment of industry we are in perpetual contact with 
the forces of nature. We are constantly dependent 
upon them for the pecuniary returns and profits of our 
investments, and hence the necessity of knowing what 
those forces are, and under w 7 hat circumstances they 
will operate most efficiently, and will most bountifully 
reward our original outlay of money and time. 



270 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

Our country yields a great variety of agricultura. 
productions, and this brings into requisition all that 
chemical and experimental knowledge which pertains 
to the rotation of crops and the enrichment of soils. If 
rotation be disregarded, the repeated demands upon 
the same soil to produce the same crop will exhaust it 
of the elements on which that particular crop will best 
thrive. If the chemical ingredients and affinities of the 
soil are not understood, an attempt may be made to re- 
enforce it by substances with which it is already sur- 
charged, instead of renovating it with those of which it 
has been exhausted by previous growths. But for these 
arrangements and adaptations knowledge is the grand 
desideratum, and the addition of a new fact to a farm- 
er's mind will often increase the amount of his harvests 
more than the addition of acres to his estate. 

Why is it that, if we except Egypt, all the remain- 
ing territory of Africa, containing nearly ten millions 
of square miles, with a soil most of which is incom- 
parably more fertile by nature, produces less for the 
sustenance of man and beast than England, whose ter- 
ritory is only fifty thousand square miles ? In the lat- 
ter country, knowledge has been a substitute for a ge- 
nial climate and an exuberant soil ; while in the former, 
it is hardly a figurative expression to say that all the 
maternal kindness of nature, powerful and benignant 
as she is, has been repulsed by the ignorance of her 
children. Doubtless industry as well as knowledge is 
indispensable to productiveness; but knowledge must 
precede industry, or the latter will work to so little ef- 
fect as to become discouraged, and to relapse into the 
slothfulness of savage life. This is illustrated by the 
condition of the inhabitants of Lower California, as de- 
scribed by an intelligent friend of the author, who left 
this country a year ago. He says this is a " most beau- 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 271 

tiful country, with the finest climate in the world. But 
its inhabitants, who are principally Spaniards and In- 
dians, are in a state of semi-barbarism, and consequent- 
ly its resources are, to a certain extent, undeveloped. 
The land, which is generally level and of the richest 
quality, is divided into ranchos or plantations, the larg- 
est of which are twenty miles square, and feed twenty 
or thirty thousand head of wild cattle, with horses and 
mules in proportion. But these are all. The arts are 
in the lowest state imaginable. Their houses are mere 
pens, without pen floors ; their plows are pointed logs ; 
their yokes are straight sticks, which they tie to the 
horns of their oxen ; and every implement of industry 
shows an equal want of ingenuity and enterprise. 
They are too indolent to raise much grain, though the 
soil will yield, I am told, eighty bushels of wheat to an 
acre ; consequently, wheat is sold to the immigrants at 
three dollars per bushel, while the finest beef cattle in 
the world bring from eight to ten dollars per head. 
Butter, cheese, and even milk, you can not obtain at 
all, for they are too lazy to tame their cows. A few 
Americans, who own large ranchos, have American 
plows, and are doing better than the rest. Many 
ranchos have been abandoned, and their owners have 
gone to the mines. This state of things the energetic 
Anglo-Saxon will soon change. The immigration for 
the next few years will be immense, and the whole 
community will yield to American customs. The large 
ranchos will be cut up into farms, and their products 
will supply the wants of a dense population. Property 
will rapidly change hands, and it will be easy for the 
shrewd Yankee to reap the benefit of the change." 

But, without further exposition, it may be remarked 
generally, that the spread of intelligence, through the 
instrumentality of good books, and the cultivation in 



272 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

our children of the faculties of observing, comparing, 
and reasoning, through the medium of good schools, 
would add millions to the agricultural products of 
nearly every state of the Union, without imposing upon 
the husbandman an additional hour of labor. 

Education and the Useful Arts. — For the success- 
ful prosecution among us of the manufacturing and 
mechanic arts, if not for their very existence, there 
must be not only the exactness of science, but also ex- 
actness or skill in the application of scientific princi- 
ples throughout the whole processes, either of con- 
structing machinery, or of transforming raw materials 
into finished fabrics. This ability to make exact and 
skillful applications of science to an unlimited variety 
of materials, and especially to the subtile but most en- 
ergetic agencies of nature, is one of the latest attain- 
ments of the human mind. It is remarkable that as- 
tronomy, sculpture, painting, poetry, oratory, and even 
ethical philosophy, had made great progress thousands 
of years before the era of the manufacturing and me- 
chanic arts. This era, indeed, has but just commenced ; 
and already the abundance, and, what is of far greater 
importance, the universality of the personal, domestic, 
and social comforts it has created, constitute one of the 
most important epochs in the history of civilization. 

The cultivation of these arts is conferring a thou- 
sand daily accommodations and pleasures upon the 
laborer in his cottage, which, only two or three centu- 
ries ago, were luxuries in the palace of the monarch. 
Through circumstances incident to the introduction of 
all economical improvements, there has hitherto been 
great inequality in the distribution of their advantages ; 
but their general tendency is greatly to ameliorate the 
condition of the mass of mankind. It has been esti- 
mated that the products of machinery in Great Britain, 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 273 

with a population of eighteen millions, is equal to the 
labor of hundreds of millions of human hands. This 
vast gain is effected without the conquest or partition- 
ing of the territory of any neighboring nation, and with- 
out rapine or the confiscation of property already ac- 
cumulated by others. It is an absolute creation of 
wealth — that is, of those articles, commodities, and im- 
provements which we appraise and set down as of a 
certain moneyed value alike in the inventory of a de- 
ceased man's estate and in the grand valuation of a 
nation's capital. These contributions to human wel- 
fare have been derived from knowledge ; from know- 
ing how to employ those natural agencies which from 
the beginning of the race had existed, but had lain dor- 
mant or run uselessly away. For mechanical pur- 
poses, what is wind, or water, or the force of steam 
worth, until the ingenuity of man comes in, and places 
the wind-wheel, the water-wheel, or the piston between 
these mighty agents and the work he wishes them to 
perform? But after the intervention of machinery, 
how powerful they become for all purposes of utility ! 
In a word, these great improvements, which distinguish 
our age from all preceding ages, have been obtained 
from Nature by addressing her in the language of 
Science and Art, the only language she understands, 
yet one of such all-pervading efficacy that she never 
refuses to comply to the letter with all petitions for 
wealth or physical power, if they are preferred to her 
in that dialect. 

Now it is easy to show, from reasoning, from histo- 
ry, and from experience, that an early awakening of 
the mind is a prerequisite to success in the useful arts. 
But it must be an awakening to thought, not to feeling 
merely. In the first place, a clearness of perception 
must be acquired, or the power of taking a correct 

M2 



274 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

mental transcript, copy, or image of whatever is seen. 
This, however, though indispensable, is by no means 
sufficient. 

The talent of improving upon the labors of others re- 
quires not only the capability of receiving an exact 
mental copy or imprint of all the objects of sense or 
reasoning ; it also requires the power of reviving or 
reproducing at will all the impressions or ideas before 
obtained, and the power of changing their collocations, 
of re-arranging them into new forms, and of adding 
something to or removing something from the original 
perceptions, in order to make a more perfect plan or 
model. If a ship-wright, for instance, would improve 
upon all existing specimens of naval architecture, he 
would first examine as great a number of ships as pos- 
sible ; this done, he would revive the image which each 
had imprinted upon his mind, and, with all the fleets 
which he had inspected present to his imagination, he 
would compare each individual vessel with all others, 
make a selection of one part from one, and of another 
part from another, apply his own knowledge of the 
laws of moving and of resisting forces to all, and thus 
create, in his own mind, the complex idea or model of 
a ship more perfect than any of those he had seen. 

Now every recitation in a school, if rightly conducted, 
is a step toward the attainment of this wonderful power. 
With a course of studies judiciously arranged and dil- 
igently pursued through the years of minority, all the 
great phenomena of external nature, and the most im- 
portant productions in all the useful arts, together with 
the principles on which they are evolved or fashioned, 
would be successively brought before the understand- 
ing of the pupil. He would thus become familiar with 
the substances of the material world, and with their 
manifold properties and uses ; and he would learn the 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 275 

laws, comparatively few. by which results infinitely di- 
versified are produced. When such a student goes 
out into life, he carries, as it were, a plan or model of 
the world in his own mind. He can not, therefore, 
pass, either blindly or with the stupid gaze of the brute 
creation, by the great objects and processes of nature; 
but he has an intelligent discernment of their several 
existences and relations, and their adaptation to the uses 
of mankind. Neither can he fasten his eye upon any 
workmanship or contrivance of man without asking 
two questions : first, How is it ? and, secondly, How can 
it be improved ? 

Hence it is that all the processes of nature and the 
contrivances of art are so manv lessons or communi 
cations to an instructed man ; but an uninstructed one 
walks in the midst of them like a blind man among 
colors, or a deaf man among sounds. The Romans 
carried their aqueducts from hill-top to hill-top, on lofty 
arches erected at immense expenditure of time and 
money. One idea — that is, a knowledge of the law of 
the equilibrium of fluids ; a knowledge of the fact that 
water in a tube will rise to the level of the fountain — 
would have enabled a single individual to do with ease 
what, without that knowledge, it required the wealth of 
an empire to accomplish. 

It is in ways similar to this — that is, by accomplish- 
ing greater results with less means ; by creating prod- 
ucts at once cheaper, better, and by more expedi- 
tious methods ; and by doing a vast variety of things 
otherwise impossible — that the cultivation of mind may 
be truly said to yield the highest pecuniary requital. 

Intelligence is the great money-maker, not by extortion, 
but by production. There are ten thousand things in 
every department of life which, if done in season, can 
be done in a minute, but which, if not seasonably done, 



276 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

will require hours, perhaps days or weeks for their per- 
formance. An awakened mind will see and seize the 
critical juncture ; the perceptions of the sluggish one 
will come too late, if they come at all. 

A general culture of the faculties, also, gives versa- 
tility of talent, so that, if the customary business of the 
laborer is superseded by improvements, he can read- 
ily betake himself to another kind of employment. But 
an uncultivated mind is like an automaton, which can 
do only the thing for which its wheels or springs were 
made. Brute force expends itself unproductively. It 
is ignorant of the manner in which Nature works, and 
hence it can not avail itself of her mighty agencies. 
Often, indeed, it attempts to oppose Nature. It throws 
itself across the track where her resistless car is moving. 
But knowledge enables its possessor to employ her 
agencies in his own service, and he thereby obtains an 
amount of power, without fee or reward, which thou- 
sands of slaves could not give. 

Every man who consumes a single article in whose 
production or transportation the power of steam is used, 
has it delivered to him cheaper than he could otherwise 
have obtained it. Every man who can avail himself 
of this power in traveling, can perform the business of 
three days in one, and so far add two hundred per cent, 
to the length of his life as a business man. What in- 
numerable millions has the invention of the cotton-gin, 
by Whitney, added, and will continue to add, to the 
wealth of the world ! a part of which is already real- 
ized, but vastly the greater part of which is yet to be 
received, as each successive day draws for an install- 
ment which would exhaust the treasury of a nation. 
The instructed and talented man enters the rich do- 
mains of Nature not as an intruder, but, as it were, a 
proprietor, and makes her riches his own. 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 277 

Why is it that, so far as the United States are con- 
cerned, four fifths of all the improvements, inventions, 
and discoveries in regard to machinery, to agricultural 
implements, to superior models in ship-building, and to 
the manufacture of those refined instruments on which 
accuracy in scientific observations depends, have orig- 
inated in New England ? 1 believe no adequate reason 
can be assigned but the early awakening and training 
of the power of thought in her children. Improve- 
ments, inventions, and discoveries have been made in 
other states of the Union to an extent commensurate 
with the progress they have made in perfecting their 
systems of public instruction, and these improvements 
will ever keep pace with the attentions which a people 
bestow upon their common schools. 

Mr. Mann remarks that, in conversing with a gen- 
tleman who had possessed most extensive opportunities 
for acquaintance with men of different countries and 
of all degrees of intellectual development, he observed 
that he could employ a common immigrant or a slave, 
and, if he chose, could direct him to shovel a heap of 
sand from one spot to another, and then back into its 
former place, and so to and fro through the day ; but, 
added he, neither love nor money would prevail on a 
New Englander to prosecute a piece of work of which 
he did not see the utility. 

There is scarcely any kind of labor, however simple, 
pertaining to the farm, to the work-shop, or to domestic 
employments, and whether performed by male or fe- 
male, which can be so well done without knowledge in 
the workman or domestic as with it. It is impossible 
for an overseer or employer at all times to supply 
mind to the laborer. In giving directions for the short- 
est series or train of operations, something will be 
omitted or misunderstood ; and without intelligence in 



278 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

the workman, the omission or mistake will be repeated 
in the execution. 

It is a fact of universal notoriety, that the manufac- 
turing population of England, as a class, work for half, 
or less than half the wages of our own. The cost of 
machinery there, also, is about half as much as the cost 
of the same articles with us ; while our capital, when 
loaned, produces nearly double the rate of English in- 
terest ; yet against these grand adverse circumstan- 
ces our manufacturers, with a small per centage of 
tariff, successfully compete with English capitalists in 
many branches of manufacturing business. No expla- 
nation can be given of this extraordinary fact which 
does not take into the account the difference of educa- 
tion between the operatives in the two countries. 

One of our most careful and successful manufactur- 
ers remarks that, on substituting in one of his cotton- 
mills a better for a poorer educated class of operatives, 
he was enabled to add twelve or fifteen per cent, to the 
speed of his machinery, without any increase of damage 
or danger from the acceleration. How direct and de- 
monstrative the bearing which facts like this have upon 
the wisdom of our laws respecting the education of 
children in manufacturing establishments.* 

* In Connecticut the statutes provide " that no child under the age 
of fifteen years shall be employed to labor in any manufacturing estab- 
lishment, or in any other business in the state, unless such child shall 
have attended some public or private day school where instruction is 
given by a teacher qualified to instruct in orthography, reading, writing, 
English grammar, geography, and arithmetic, at least three months of 
the twelve months next preceding any and every year in which such 
child shall be so employed. And the owner, agent, or superintendent 
of any manufacturing establishment who shall employ any child in such 
establishment contrary to the provisions of this act, shall forfeit and pay 
for each offense a penalty of twenty-five dollars to the treasurer of the 
state." In Massachusetts the forfeiture is fifty dollars. Similar provi- 
sions exist in other American, and in several European states. 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 279 

The number of females in the State of Massachusetts 
engaged in the various manufactures of cotton, straw- 
platting, etc., has been estimated at forty thousand, 
and the annual value of their labor at one hundred 
dollars each on an average, or four millions of dollars 
for the whole. From the facts stated in the letters of 
Messrs. Mills and Clark above cited, it appears there 
is a difference of not less than fifty per cent, between 
the earnings of the least educated and of the best edu- 
cated operatives — between those who make their marks 
instead of writing their names, and those who have 
been acceptably employed in school-keeping. Now 
suppose the whole forty thousand females engaged in 
the various kinds of manufactures in that common- 
wealth to be degraded to the level of the lowest class, 
it would follow that their aggregate earnings would fall 
at once to two millions of dollars. But, on the other 
hand, suppose them all to be elevated by mental culti- 
vation to the rank of the highest, and their earnings 
would rise to the sum of six millions of dollars annually. 

There can be no doubt but that education, or the 
want of it, affects the pecuniary value of female labor 
in the ordinary domestic employments of the sex not 
less than in manufactures. If, then, the females of the 
thirty states of the Union be estimated at eight millions 
— and the number sustaining the relations of daughters, 
wives, and mothers must exceed the supposition — the 
effect of giving them all an education equal to the best 
would at once raise their earnings, annually, two hund- 
red millions of dollars! But this is the lowest sense 
in which we can estimate the value of education, even 
in the sterner sex. This sum, vast as it may seem, is 
as dross to gold when compared with the refining and 
elevating influence which eight millions of educated 
females would exert upon the domestic and social in- 



280 THE IMPORTANCE OP 

stitutions of our country, in uplifting our national char- 
acter and improving the condition of the race. 

Not more than thirty years ago it was uncommon 
for a glazier's apprentice, ev£h after having served an 
apprenticeship of seven years, to be able to cut glass 
with a diamond without spending much time and de- 
stroying much of the glass upon which he worked. 
But the invention of a simple tool has put it into the 
power of the merest tyro in the trade to cut glass with 
facility, and without loss. A man who had a mind, as 
well as fingers, observed that there was one direction 
in which the diamond was almost incapable of abrasion 
or wearing by use. The tool not only steadies the 
diamond, but fastens it in that direction. 

The operation of tanning leather consists in exposing 
a hide to the action of a chemical ingredient, called 
tannin, for a length of time sufficient to allow every 
particle of the hide to become saturated with the solu- 
tion. In making the best leather, the hides used to lay 
in the pit for six, twelve, or eighteen months, and some- 
times for two years, the tanner being obliged to wait 
all this time for a return of his capital. By the modern 
process, the hides are placed in a close pit, with a solu- 
tion of the tannin matter, and the air being exhausted, 
the liquid penetrates through every pore and fiber of 
the skin, and the whole process is completed in a few 
days. 

The bleaching of cloth, which used to be effected in 
the open air, and in exposed situations where tempta- 
tion to theft was offered, and in England hundreds and 
probably thousands of men have yielded and forfeited 
their lives, is now performed in an unexposed situation, 
and in a manner so expeditious, that cloth is bleached 
as much more rapidly than it formerly was as hides 
are tanned. 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 281 

It is stated by Lord Brougham, in his beautiful Dis- 
course on the Advantages of Science, that the inventoi 
of the new mode of refining sugar made more money 
in a shorter time, and with less risk and trouble, than 
perhaps was ever realized from any previous invention. 

Intelligence also prevents loss as well as makes prof- 
its. How much time and money have been squander- 
ed in repeated attempts to invent machinery, after a 
principle had been once tested and had failed through 
some defect inherent and natural, and therefore in- 
superable ! Within thirty years not less than five pat- 
ents have been taken out, in England and the United 
States, for a certain construction of paddle-wheels for 
a steamboat, which construction was tested and con- 
demned as early as 1810.* A case once came within 
my own knowledge, says Mr. Mann, of a person who 
spent a fortune in mining for coal, when a work on 
geology, which would have cost but a dollar, and might 
have been read in a week, would have informed him 
that the stratum where he began to excavate belonged 
to a formation lower down in the natural series than 
coal ever is, or, according to the constitution of things, 
ever can be found. He therefore worked into a stra- 
tum which must have been formed before a particle of 
coal, or even a tree, or a vegetable existed on the 
planet. Numerous similar and equally striking illus- 
trations might be cited, but this is not necessary. 

These are a few specimens, on familiar subjects, taken 
almost at random, for the purpose of showing the in- 
herent superiority of any association or community, 
whether small or great, where mind is a member of the 
partnership. What is true of the above-mentioned 
cases is true of the whole circle of those arts by which 

* This statement was made eight years ago. More such patents 
may have been taken out within this time. 



282 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

human life is sustained and human existence comfort- 
ed, elevated, and embellished. Mind has been the im- 
prover, for matter can not improve itself, and improve- 
ment has advanced in proportion to the number and 
culture of the minds excited to activity and applied to 
the work. 

Similar advancements have been effected throughout 
the whole compass of human labor and research; in the 
arts of Transportation and Locomotion, from the em- 
ployment of the sheep and the goat as beasts of burden, 
to the steam-engine and the rail-road car ; in the art 
of Navigation, from the canoe clinging timidly to the 
shore, to steam-ships which boldly traverse the ocean; 
in Hydraulics, from carrying water by hand in a ves- 
sel or in horizontal aqueducts, to those vast conduits 
which supply the demands of a city, and to steam fire- 
engines which throw a column of water to the top of 
the loftiest buildings ; in the arts of Spinning and Rope- 
making, from the hand distaff to the spinning-frame, 
and to the machine which makes cordage or cables of 
any length, in a space ten feet square ; in Horology or 
Time-keeping, from the sun-dial and the water-clock 
to the watch, and to the chronometer, by which the 
mariner is assisted in measuring his longitude, and in 
saving property and life ; in the extraction, forging, 
and tempering of Iron and other ores having mallea- 
bility to be wrought into all forms and used for all pur- 
poses, and supplying, instead of the stone hatchet or 
the fish-shell of the savage, an almost infinite variety 
of instruments, which have sharpness for cutting or so- 
lidity for striking ; in the art of Vitrification or Glass- 
making, giving not only a multitude of commodious and 
ornamental utensils for the household, but substituting 
the window for the unsightly orifice or open casement, 
and winnowing light and warmth from the outward 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 283 

and the cold atmosphere ; in the arts of Induration by- 
Heat, from bricks dried in the sun to those which with- 
stand the corrosion of our climate for centuries or re- 
sist the intensity of the furnace ; in the arts of Illumina- 
tion, from the torch cut from the fir or pine tree to the 
brilliant gas-light which gives almost a solar splendor 
to the nocturnal darkness of our cities ; in the arts of 
Heating and Ventilation, which at once supply warmth 
for comfort and pure air for health ; in the art of Build- 
ing, from the hollowed trunk of a tree or the roof-shaped 
cabin, to those commodious and lightsome dwellings 
which betoken the taste and competence of our villa- 
ges and cities ; in the art of Copying or Printing, from 
the toilsome process of hand-copying, where the tran- 
scription of a single book was the labor of months or 
years, and sometimes almost of a life, to the power 
printing-press, which throws off sixty printed sheets in 
a minute ; in the art of Paper-making, from the prepa- 
ration of the inner bark of a tree, cleft off and dried at 
immense labor, to machinery from which there jets out 
an unbroken stream of paper with the velocity and con- 
tinuousness of a current of water ; in the art of Paint- 
ing, from the use of the crayon, and artificial colors 
imperfectly blended, requiring whole days to present 
an incomplete picture, to the production, as by enchant- 
ment, of perfect likenesses in nature's own penciling, 
executed in a few seconds ; in the art of Telegraphing, 
from communicating information by signs which may 
be seen from one station to another, to conveying in- 
telligence to any given distance with the velocity of 
lightning ; and, in addition to all these, in the arts of 
Moulding and Casting, of Designing and Engraving, of 
Preserving materials and of Changing their color, of Di- 
viding and Uniting them, etc., etc., an ample catalogue, 
whose very names and processes would fill volumes. 



284 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

Now, for the perfecting of all these operations, from 
the tedious and bungling process to the rapid and ele- 
gant ; for the change of an almost infinite variety of 
crude and worthless materials into useful and beautiful 
fabrics, mind has been the agent. Succeeding gener- 
ations have outstripped their predecessors just in pro- 
portion to the superiority of their mental cultivation. 
When we compare different people or different gener- 
ations with each other, the diversity is so great that all 
must behold it. But there is the same kind of difference 
between contemporaries, fellow-townsmen, and fellow- 
laborers. Though the uninstructed man works side bv 
side with the intelligent, yet the mental difference be- 
tween them places them in the same relation to each 
other that a past age bears to the present. If the ig- 
norant man knows no more respecting any particular 
art or branch of business than was generally known 
during the last century, he belongs to the last century, 
and he must consent to be outstripped by those who 
have the light and knowledge of the present. Though 
they are engaged in the same kind of work, though they 
are supplied with the same tools or implements for car- 
rying it on, yet, so long as one has only an arm, but the 
other has an arm and a mind, their products will come 
out stamped and labeled all over with marks of con- 
trast ; inferiority and superiority, both as to quantity 
and quality, will be legibly written on their respective 
labors. 

It is related by travelers among savage tribes that 
when, by the aid of an ingeniously devised instrument 
or apparatus, they have performed some skillful manual 
operation, the savages have purloined from them the 
instrument they had used, supposing there was some 
magic in the apparatus itself, by which the seeming 
miracle had been performed ; but, as they could not 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 285 

steal the art of the operator with the instrument which 
he employed, the theft was fruitless. Any person who 
expects to effect with less education what another is 
enabled to do with more, ought not to smile at the de- 
lusion of the savage or the simplicity of his reasoning. 
On a cursory inspection of the great works of art — 
the steam-engine, the printing-press, the power-loom, 
the mill, the iron foundery, the ship, the telescope, etc., 
etc. — we are apt to look upon them as having sprung 
into sudden existence, and reached their present state 
of perfection by one, or, at most, by a few mighty ef- 
forts of creative genius. We do not reflect that they 
have required the lapse of centuries and the successive 
application of thousands of minds for the attainment of 
their present excellence ; that they have advanced from 
a less to a more perfect form by steps and gradations 
almost as imperceptible as the growth by which an in- 
fant expands to the stature of a man ; and that, as later 
discoverers and inventors had first to go over the 
ground of their predecessors, so must future discover- 
ers and inventors first master the attainments of the 
present age before they will be prepared to make those 
new achievements which are to carry still further on- 
ward the stupendous work of improvement. 



286 TMF. rMPORTANOE OF 



EDUCATION DIMINISHES PAUPERISM AND CRIME. 

Education is to be regarded as one of the most important means of 
eradicating the germs of pauperism from the rising generation, and of 
securiug in the minds and in the morals of the people the best protec- 
tion for the institutions of society. — Dr. James Phillips Kay, Assistant 
Poor-haw Commissioner, and Secretary to the Committee of Council on 
Education* 

The different countries of the world, if an-anged according to the 
state of education in them, will be found to be arranged also according 
to wealth, morals, and general happiness ; at the same time, the 

CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE, AND THE EXTENT OF CRIME AND VIOLENCE 
AMONG THEM, FOLLOW A LIKE ORDER. NATIONAL EDUCATION, by Fred. 

Hill, London. 

That education increases the productiveness of labor 
has been already conclusively established. It has also 
been incidentally shown that mere knowledge, valua- 
ble as it is to the laborer, is not the only advantage de- 
rived from a good common school education, but that 
the better educated, as a class, possess a higher and 
better state of morals, and are more orderly and re- 
spectful in their deportment than the uninstructed ; and 
that for those w T ho possess the greatest share in the 
stock of worldly goods, the most effectual way of 
making insurance on their property would be, to con* 
tribute from it enough to sustain an efficient system of 
common school education, thereby educating the whole 
mass of mind, and constituting it a police more effective 
than peace officers or prisons. If, then, poverty is at 
once a cause and an effect of crime, as is stated by a late 
writer, - )" who has made an extended survey of the rel- 
ative state of instruction and social welfare in the lead- 
ing nations of the world, it is directly inferable that ed- 

* Quoted from the Report to the Secretary of State for the Home 
Department, on the Training of Pauper Children, London, 1841. 

t Fred. Hill, author of National Education, whose testimony is quoted 
at the head of this article. 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 287 

ucation will, and, from the nature of the case, must act 
in a compound ratio in diminishing both pauperism and 
crime. 

This proposition is not received by a few individuals 
merely in comparatively unimportant communities : it 
is one which is generally adopted by enlightened prac- 
tical educators and by liberal-minded capitalists of 
both hemispheres. The views of several of our prin- 
cipal American manufacturers have been already pre- 
sented. Let us now direct our attention to the testimo- 
ny of enlightened and liberal-minded capitalists residing 
in some of the transatlantic states. 

William Fairbrain, Esq., the sole proprietor of a man- 
ufactory in Manchester, and part owner of another es- 
tablishment in London, and who has between eleven 
and twelve hundred persons in his employ, remarks in 
relation to the habits of the educated and uneducated 
as follows : There is no doubt that the educated are 
more sober and less dissipated than the uneducated. 
During the hours of recreation, the younger portion of 
the educated workmen indulge more in reading and 
mental pleasures ; they attend more at reading-rooms, 
and avail themselves of the facilities afforded by libra- 
ries, by scientific lectures, and by lyceums. The older 
of the more educated workmen spend their time chiefly 
with their families, reading and walking out with them. 
The time of the uneducated classes is spent very dif- 
ferently, and chiefly in the grosser sensual indulgences. 
Mr. Fairbrain has given his own time as president of a 
lyceum for the use of the working classes, which fur- 
nishes the means of instruction in arithmetic, mathemat- 
ics, drawing, and mensuration, and by lectures. In 
these institutions liberal provision is very properly 
made, not only for the occupation of the leisure hours 
of the laborers themselves, and for their intellectual and 



288 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

social improvement, but for that of their wives and 
families, in order " to make the home comfortable, and 
to minister to the household recreation and amusement : 
this is a point of view in which the education of the 
wives of laboring men is really of very great import- 
ance, that they may be rational companions for men."* 

Albert G. Escher, Esq., one of the firm of Escher, 
Wyss, and Co., of Zurich, Switzerland, remarks as fol- 
lows : We employ from six to eight hundred men in 
our machine-making establishment at Zurich : we also 
employ about two hundred men in our cotton-mills 
there, and about five hundred men in our cotton man- 
ufactories in the Tyrol and in Italy. I have occasion- 
ally had the control of from five to six hundred men 
engaged in engineering operations as builders, masons, 
etc., and men of the class called navigators in England. 

After giving a list of the different countries from 
which his laborers are drawn, classifying the workmen 
of various nations " in respect to such natural intelli- 
gence as may be distinguished from any intelligence 
imparted by the labors of the schoolmaster," and re- 
marking in relation to the influence of education upon 
the value of labor — where his testimony corroborates 
that of manufacturers in New England, already quoted 
— the same gentleman makes a statement which is ap- 
plicable to the subject under consideration. 

" The better educated workmen,we find, are distinguish- 
ed by superior moral habits in every respect. In the 
first place, they are entirely sober ; they are discreet 
in their enjoyments, which are of a more rational and 
refined kind ; they are more refined themselves, and 
they have a taste for much better society, which they 

* See evidence taken by Edwin Chadwick, Esq., Secretary to the 
Poor-Law Commissioners, a quotation from whose report heads this 
article. 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 289 

approach respectfully, and consequently find much 
readier admittance to it; they cultivate music; they 
read ; they enjoy the pleasures of scenery, and make 
parties for excursions into the country ; they are eco- 
nomical, and their economy extends beyond their own 
purse to the stock of their master ; they are conse- 
quently honest and trustworthy." 

Scotland affords a very striking illustration of the 
power of education in diminishing pauperism and 
crime, and in improving the morals and increasing the 
wealth of a country. Indeed, it would be difficult to 
find another instance in the history of nations of a 
country which has made such rapid progress in the 
diminution of crime, the increase of public wealth, and 
the diffusion of comforts, as Scotland. And this grati- 
fying change — this remarkable instance of progress in 
the scale of being, has been concurrent with increased 
and increasing attention to the education of the people. 

At the beginning of the last century, Scotland swarm- 
ed with gipsies and other vagabonds, who lived chiefly 
by stealing, and who often committed violent robberies 
and murders. Of these pests to society it was esti- 
mated that there were not less than two hundred thou- 
sand. Besides these, there were the more gentlemanly, 
though less tolerable robbers, such as the notorious 
Rob Roy, who made no more ado about seizing an- 
other man's cattle than a grazier does of driving from 
market a drove of oxen for which he has paid every 
shilling demanded. 

But now, the laying aside of a sum sufficient for the 
education of his children is an object which a Scotch- 
man seldom loses sight of, both when he thinks of mar- 
rying and settling in life, and at every future period ; 
and it is to this habit, handed down from father to son, 
that the Scotch owe their morality. One of their own 

N 



290 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

writers says, "we have scarcely any rural population 
who are not perfectly aware of the importance of ed- 
ucation, and not willing to make sacrifices to secure it 
to their children." 

Having seen something of the excellence of educa- 
tion in improving the social and moral habits of a com- 
munity, and in banishing pauperism and crime from 
among those who become the happy subjects of its up- 
lifting power, let us, for the purpose of becoming more 
alive to its importance, consider the condition of a peo- 
ple where the masses are not brought under its benign 
influence. 

Spain, which has been already referred to in illus- 
tration of the evils of ignorance, affords a striking illus- 
tration for our present purpose. Until after the lapse 
of one third of the present century, there was but one 
newspaper published in this country ! " Yes, one mis- 
erable government gazette was the sole channel through 
which twelve or fourteen millions of people, spread 
over a vast territory, were to be supplied with infor- 
mation on the momentous affairs of their own country, 
and of the whole external world." — National Educa- 
tion, vol. ii., p. 136. 

" The most authentic return of the number of chil- 
dren receiving education in Spain was made in the year 
1803, and it is believed that but little change has taken 
place since that time. According to the returns, the 
number of children receiving education, exclusive of 
those brought up in convents and monasteries, was 
only one in every three hundred and forty-six of the 
population ! M. Jonnes estimates the population at 
about fourteen millions and a half, and assuming, as he 
does, that about the same fraction of the population is 
receiving education as in 1803, he estimates the present 
number of children in school in the whole of Spain at 



POPULAR EDUCATION 291 

not more than about forty-three thousand ; and, pur- 
suing his calculations, he shows that, if his data be cor- 
rect, not more than one child in thirty-five ever goes 
to school. He further states that the children thus 
favored are exclusively from the middle and upper 
classes."* — National Education, vol. ii., p. 130-1. 

How far the education given to the favored few is 
of a practical and useful kind, may be conjectured from 
the following extract from M. Jonnes's work. After 
speaking of the many libraries, schools, colleges, and 
universities, the creation of past times, but which still 
exist, he remarks, that " these institutions were intend- 
ed for a state of society which had nothing in common 
with that of the present day. The kind of instruction 
afforded in them, confined as it is to prayer, church dis- 
cipline, and the dogmas of theology, has no connection 
with the interests and wants of the existing generation. 

" What every enlightened man in Spain has long 
called for is a national, popular, gratuitous education, 
extending to all classes, as well in the towns as in the 
rural districts. Up to the present time, the people 
have received no other instruction than that offered by 
the clergy, which has had scarcely any other object 
than the performance of religious ceremonies." 

In addition to what has been already stated, it may 
be remarked, that even with those who know how to 
read, "books and study are almost out of the question, 
because, unless in the principal cities, public libraries 
are nowhere to be found, and private libraries are 
luxuries that few possess." 

If education is conducive to virtue, and ignorance 

* The writer would here remark, in reference to extracts made from 
various authors, that, for the sake of abridging, he has often, as in this 
case, left out parts of a paragraph, but never so as to modify the mean- 
ing. Some ideas, not connected with the subject in hand, are omitted, 
but none are changed. 



292 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

fosters crime, what must be the social and moral state 
of a country in which ignorance is so prevalent! "The 
amount of crime in Spain is appalling. We have be- 
fore us a return of convictions for the year 1826, from 
which we shall make some extracts. Our reason for 
taking this year is simply because we are unable to 
procure any return for a later one. The number of 
convictions for murder in England and Wales in the 
year 1826 was thirteen, and the number convicted of 
wounding, etc., with intent to kill, was fourteen. These 
numbers are lamentably large. That the horrible 
crime of murder should ever be perpetrated is a most 
melancholy fact ; and that so many as thirteen mur- 
ders should be committed in one year must fill the 
mind of every moral man and lover of his country with 
grief and shame. But great as this number is abso- 
lutely, it sinks into insignificance when compared with 
the number of murders perpetrated in Spain ; for in 
that unhappy country, in the single year of 1826, the 
number of convictions for murder reached the fright- 
ful height of twelve hundred and thirty-three ! in 
addition to which, there were seventeen hundred and 
seventy-three convictions on charges of maiming with 
intent to kill, and sixteen hundred and twenty persons 
were convicted of robbery under aggravated circum- 
stances. We doubt not for an instant this mass of 
crime is the offspring of ignorance."— National Ed- 
ucation, vol. ii., p. 144. 

It has been well remarked that the truest proofs of a 
good government are just laws, and that the best evi- 
dence of a well-organized government is to be found in 
the strict execution of these laws. " Judging the Span- 
ish government by these tests, it will appear the worst 
and weakest government that ever held together. Jus- 
tice of no kind has any existence ; there is the most 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 293 

lamentable insecurity of person and property; redress 
is never certain, because both judgment and the execu- 
tion of the laws are left to men so inadequately paid 
that they must depend for their subsistence upon brib- 
ery. Nothing is so difficult as to bring a man to trial 
who has any thing in his purse, except to bring him to 
execution : this, unless in Madrid and Catalonia, is im- 
possible, for money will always buy indemnity. 

" I can state, upon certain information received in 
Madrid, that the principal Spanish diligences pay black 
mail to the banditti for their protection. This arrange- 
ment was at first entered into with some difficulty ; and 
from a gentleman w 7 ho was present at the interview be- 
tween the person employed to negotiate on behalf of 
the diligences and the representative of the banditti, 
I learned a few particulars. The diligences in ques- 
tion were those between Madrid and Seville, and the 
sum offered for their protection was not objected to, 
but another difficulty was started. ' I have nothing to 
say against the terms you offer,' said the negotiator 
for the banditti, ' and I will at once insure you against 
being molested by robbers of consequence ! but as for 
the small fry, I can not be responsible ! we respect the 
engagements entered into by each other, but there is 
nothing like honor among the petty thieves. 1 The pro- 
prietors of the diligences, however, were satisfied with 
the assurance of protection against the great robbers, 
and the treaty was concluded ; but not long afterward 
one of the coaches was stopped and rifled by the petty 
thieves : this led to an arrangement which has ever 
since proved effectual ; one of the chiefs accompanies 
the coach on its journey, and overawes, by his name 
and reputation, the robbers of inferior degree." — Spain 
in 1830, vol. L, p. 2. 

A volume might be filled with similar testimony, 



294 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

showing the great insecurity of person and property 
in various parts of this unhappy country. Even "a 
woman who dares prosecute the murderer of her hus- 
band speedily receives a private intimation that effect- 
ually silences her ; and it has not been uncommon for 
money to be put into the hands of an escrivano* pre- 
vious to the commission of a murder, in order to insure 
the services and protection of a person so necessary to 
one who meditates crime." 

Spain abounds in poverty. Ignorance conduces to 
crime, which, as we have seen, is at once a cause and 
an effect of poverty. In view of what has already been 
said of the ignorance and immorality of the Spaniards, 
one would readily enough infer that poverty exists 
among them to a deplorable extent, and it is even so. 
In this country " every thing, indeed, appears to have 
conspired to paralyze industry, and to render of no 
avail the natural fertility of the soil. The havoc of 
war ; the plunder committed by organized and power- 
ful bodies of robbers ; the rapacity of government and 
of its army of officers ; the exclusion of foreign goods, 
and the consequent shutting up of the foreign market ; 
the ignorance of the people as to the best modes of ag- 
riculture ; and, last of all, the want of capital — all these 

* The escrivanos, who figure so largely in Spain, are the representa- 
tives of the lowest class of attorneys. Nothing can be done without 
them, and they are not unfrequently almost the sole authority in a place 
capable of reading and writing. Notwithstanding the miserable state 
of the rural districts, they contrive to make money, and many of them 
rise from this humble office to much higher places in the state. Their 
wretched appointments are, consequently, objects of competition. I 
witnessed the execution of one at Seville by accidentally entering the 
Plaza, where the Capuchins were bawling out the last words for his 
repetition, announcing to the crowd that they had done their duty, and 
he died in the true faith. He had been superseded in some village in 
the vicinity, and assassinated his rival. — Cook's Sketches in Spain, vol. 
i.. p. 197. 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 295 

combine to produce squalid poverty in a land which 
ought to," and, with a good system of popular educa- 
tion, most assuredly would, "abound in wealth." 

Scotland and Spain have been referred to, not to 
bring out a few facts in history merely, but to illus- 
trate an important truth. Where a good system of 
popular education is well administered in a country, 
and, as a consequence, intelligence, industry, and mo- 
rality become universal among its citizens, they will 
eventually become a wealthy, and a highly-prosperous 
and happy community, even though they derive their 
subsistence from a naturally unfruitful soil ; but, on the 
contrary, where popular education is neglected in a 
commonwealth, and its future citizens, as a conse- 
quence, grow up in ignorance, idleness, and vice, squal- 
id poverty and flagrant crime will become prevalent 
throughout a wretched and degenerate community, 
that is scarcely able to gain a mere subsistence from a 
naturally productive soil. 

In further confirmation of the truth of the proposition 
that education diminishes crime, I will introduce the 
following statistics, gleaned from various official docu- 
ments respecting prisons. According to returns to the 
British Parliament, the commitments for crimes in an 
average of nine years in proportion to population are 
as follows : In Manchester, the most infidel city in the 
nation, 1 in 140; in London, 1 in 800; in all Ireland, 
1 in 1600 ; and in Scotland, celebrated for learning and 
religion, 1 in 20,000 ! 

The Rev. Dr. Forde, for many years the Ordinate of 
Newgate, London, represents ignorance as the first 
great cause, and idleness as the second, of all the crimes 
committed by the inmates of that celebrated prison. 
Sir Richard Phillips, sheriff of London, says that, on 
the memorial addressed to the sheriffs by 152 criminals 



296 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

in the same institution, 25 only signed their names in a 
fair hand, 26 in an illegible scrawl, and that 101, two 
thirds of the entire number, were marksmen, signing 
with a cross. Few of the prisoners could read with 
facility ; more than half of them could not read at all ; 
the most of them thought books were useless, and were 
totally ignorant of the nature, object, and end of re- 
ligion. 

The Rev. Mr. Clay, chaplain to the House of Correc- 
tion in Lancashire, represents that out of 1129 persons 
committed, 554 could not read ; 222 were barely capa- 
ble of reading ; 38 only could read well ; and only 8, 
or 1 in 141, could read and write well. One half of 
the 1129 prisoners were quite ignorant of the simplest 
truths ; 37 of these, 1 in 20 of the entire number, were 
occasional readers of the Bible ; and only one out of 
this large number was familiar with the Holy Scrip- 
tures and conversant with the principles of religion. 
Among the 516 represented as entirely ignorant, 125 
were incapable of repeating the Lord's Prayer. 

In the New York State Prisons, as examined a few 
years ago, more than three fourths of the convicts had 
either received no education or a very imperfect one. 
Out of 842 at Sing Sing, 289 could not read or write, 
and only 42 — less than 1 in 20 — had received a good 
common school education. Auburn prison presents 
similar statistics. Out of 228 prisoners, only 59 could 
read, write, and cipher, and 60 could do neither. 

The chaplain of the Ohio penitentiary remarks that 
not only in the prison of that state, but in others, de- 
praved appetites and corrupt habits, which have led to 
the commission of crime, are usually found with the 
ignorant, uninformed, and duller part of mankind. Of 
276 at one time in that institution, nearlv all were be- 
low mediocrity, and 175 are represented as grossly 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 297 

ignorant, and, in point of education, scarcely capable 
of transacting the ordinary business of life. 

The preceding, it is believed, is no more than a fair 
specimen of the criminal statistics of this country and 
of the civilized world. I will conclude this dark cata- 
logue by introducing a statement in relation to educa- 
tion and crime in a state which, according to the last 
general census, contained fewer persons in proportion 
to the whole population who were unable to read and 
write than any other state in the Union. From this 
statement it appears that as a people become more 
generally intelligent and moral, a greater proportion of 
their criminals will be found among the ignorant and 
neglected classes. 

The chaplain of the Connecticut State Prison states 
that, out of 190 prisoners, not one was liberally edu- 
cated, or a member of either of the learned professions. 
Of the whole number, 109 were natives of Connecti- 
cut ; and of these, many of them could not understand 
the plainest sentences which they read, and their moral 
culture had been more neglected than their intellectual. 
From the investigations of this officer, it appears that 
out of every 100 prisoners only two could be found who 
could read, write, and were temperate, and only four 
who could read, write, and followed any regular trade. 

It is evident, then, that while education increases the 
wealth and general happiness of a community, the want 
of it will reduce a people to a state of poverty and 
wretchedness ; or, to repeat a sentiment placed at the 
head of this article, the different countries of the world, 
if arranged according to the state of education in them, 
will be found to be arranged also according to wealth, 
morals, and general happiness ; at the same time, the 
condition of the people, and the extent of crime and 
violence among them, follow a like order. 

N2 



298 THE IMPORTANCE OP 

J might appropriately add under this head that a 
proper attention to the subject of education would 
greatly diminish the number of fatal accidents; that it 
would save many lives, prevent much of idiocy and in- 
sanity, and a multitude of evils that ordinarily result 
from ignorance of the organic laws. 

Fatal Accidents. — He who understands the laws 
of motion knows that a man jumping from a carriage 
at speed is in great danger of falling after his feet reach 
the ground, for his body has the same forward veloci- 
ty as if he had been running with the speed of the car- 
riage, and unless he continues to advance his feet as 
in running to support his advancing body, he must as 
certainly be dashed to the ground as a runner whose 
feet are suddenly arrested. If, then, there is danger 
in leaping from a carriage in motion, how much greater 
is the hazard in jumping from a rail-road car under full 
headway. And yet many do this, jumping off side- 
wise, so that it is impossible to advance ; and some 
even jump in the opposite direction from the motion 
of the car, which increases the already imminent haz- 
ard. From statistics recently collected, it appears 
that the great majority of accidents on the rail-roads 
of this country have happened in this way, a want of 
practical conformity to this one law of motion being 
the prevailing cause of fatality along these thorough- 
fares. This is but a specimen of the fatal accidents 
that are continually occurring in the every-day trans- 
actions of life, which might be prevented as easily as 
this by the practical application of a single scientific 
principle. 

Loss of Life. — In a single hospital at Dublin, during 
four years, 2944 children out of 7650, about 40 in 100, 
died within a fortnight after their birth. Dr. Clark, 
the attending physician, suspecting a want of pure air 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 299 

to be the cause, provided for the ventilation of all the 
apartments; and by means of pipes six inches in di- 
ameter, introduced into every room a current of fresh, 
pure air, which is essential to vitality, and allowed that 
which was vitiated by respiration to escape. The 
consequence was, that during the three succeeding 
years only 165 out of 4243 children died within the 
first two weeks, or less than 4 in 100. As there was 
no other known cause of improvement in the health of 
these children, it may be justly inferred that, during the 
four years first mentioned, 2650 children, nine tenths of 
the whole number, had perished for want of pure air. 
It has been estimated that about 40 in every 100 of 
the deaths annually occurring in Great Britain and the 
United States are of children under five years of age. 
To avoid every possibility of exaggeration, we will 
place the number in this country at 30 in 100. At this 
rate we lose about 200,000 children under five years 
of age every year. Now, if nine tenths of the mortal- 
ity among infants in the Dublin Hospital were caused 
by breathing bad air, we may reasonably infer that at 
least one half of the deaths in the United States of chil- 
dren under the age of five years proceed from the same 
fatal cause. And those who have noticed what pains 
are taken by excessively careful mothers* and ignorant 
nurses to exclude from the lungs of infants the " free, 
pure, unadulterated air of heaven," and, by means of 
many thicknesses of enveloping shawls and blankets, 
require them to re-respire portions at least of their own 
breath, until it becomes a virulent and deadly poison, 

* It would seem that the great majority of " educated mothers" do 
not realize the necessity of supplying pure air to the new-born child. 
Before birth, the blood of the fetus is purified in the maternal lungs ; 
after birth, in the lungs of the child, if at all ; and for this purpose pure 
air is necessary. 



300 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

will think with me that this is a low estimate, and won- 
der that the swaddling-cloths of more infants do not 
become their winding-sheets. But. even according to 
this estimate, 100.000 children in the United States an- 
nually fall victims to the ignorance of their fond moth- 
ers. Many thousands more are subsequently sacri- 
ficed in consequence of occupying small and unventi- 
lated bed-rooms and school-rooms, which, by a practi- 
cal knowledge of the principles of physiology, might 
be saved. Perhaps as many more become sufferers 
for life from the same cause, for a thousand forms of 
disease, as it manifests itself in every stage of life, either 
owe their existence or their severity to breathing bad 
air. These, then, who drag out a miserable existence 
in consequence of this cruel treatment, are to be more 
pitied than those who fall its ready victims. 

If so many thousand deaths occur annually in the 
United States from this one cause, in addition to the 
vast amount of misery which is entailed upon the 
wretched survivors, how many hundred thousand pre- 
cious lives might be saved, and what untold wretched- 
ness might be prevented, by a strict conformity to those 
physiological laws of our being which might and should 
be generally taught in the common schools of the land. 

Education and Idiocy.* — The education of idiots 
has hitherto been regarded as paradoxical, and still is 
by the mass of mankind ; but that it is possible to im- 
prove the condition of this most wretched and helpless 
class of persons none need longer doubt. The experi- 
ment has succeeded in both Europe and America. 

* The statements under this head are drawn from Dr. Howe's Report 
on Idiocy, made in February last, and communicated by the governor 
to the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The au 
thor visited the Insiuution in South Boston during the past summer, 
and derived much information on the subject from personal observa- 
tion and inquiry. 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 801 

Massachusetts has the honor of taking the lead in this 
country ; and it is meet that it should be so, for she 
has long, like a wise parent, been accustomed to care 
for all her children. She had most readily and gener- 
ously seconded the efforts of humane men for the re- 
lief of the insane, the deaf mutes, and the blind, and 
made provision for their care and instruction. She 
extended her maternal love to the bodies of those who 
were in hopeless idiocy, but as for minds, they seemed 
to have none ; they were, therefore, kept out of sight 
of the public as much as possible until the year 1846, 
when a board of commissioners were appointed " to 
inquire into the condition of the idiots of the common- 
wealth, to ascertain their number, and whether any 
thing can be done in their behalf." 

In their report the commissioners say that, " by dili- 
gent and careful inquiries in nearly one hundred towns 
in different parts of the state, we have ascertained the 
existence and examined the condition of jive hundred 
and seventy-jive human beings who are condemned to 
hopeless idiocy, who are considered and treated as 
idiots by their neighbors, and left to their own brutish- 
ness. They are also idiotic in a legal sense ; that is, 
they are regarded as incapable of entering into con- 
tracts, and are irresponsible for their actions." 

The commissioners conclude that, " if the other parts 
of the state contain the same proportion of idiots to 
their whole population, the total number in the com- 
monwealth is between fourteen and fifteen hundred!" 
Now if we make the same estimate in proportion to 
the entire population, it will appear that in the United 
States there are upward of thirty-jive thousand persons 
in the most wretched and helpless condition of idiocy. 

In view of the great number of idiots in the common- 
wealth, the commissioners say, " it appeared to us cer- 



302 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

tain that the existence of so many idiots in every gen- 
eration must be the consequence of some violation of 
the natural laws ; that where there was so much suf- 
fering there must have been sin. We resolved, there- 
fore, to seek for the sources of the evil, as well as to 
gauge the depth and extent of the misery." 

Some of the causes of idiocv are set forth in the re- 
port, two of which are as follows : first, the low con- 
dition of the physical organization of one or both pa- 
rents> induced often by intemperance ; second, the inter- 
marriage of relatives. 

The report states that out of 420 cases of congenital 
idiocy which were examined, some information was 
gained respecting the condition of the progenitors of 
359. Now in all these cases, save only four, it was 
found that one or the other, or both, of the immediate 
progenitors of the unfortunate sufferer had in some 
way widely departed from the normal condition of 
health, and violated the natural laws. That is to say, 
one or the other, or both of .them, had been very un- 
healthy or scrofulous ; or hereditarily predisposed to 
affections of the brain, causing occasional insanity ; or 
had intermarried with blood relatives ; or had been in- 
temperate ; or had been guilty of sensual excesses 
which impair the constitution.* 

Intemperance and Idiocy. — Out of the three hundred 

* The subject of hereditary transmission of diseased tendency is of 
vast importance, but it is a difficult one to treat, because a squeamish 
delicacy makes people avoid it ; but if ever the race is to be relieved 
of a tithe of the bodily ills which flesh is now heir to, it must be by a 
clear understanding of, and a willing obedience to, the law which makes 
the parents the blessing or the curse of the children; the givers of 
strength, and vigor, and beauty, or the dispensers of debility, and dis- 
ease, and deformity. It is by the lever of enlightened parental love, 
more than by any other power, that mankind is to be raised to the 
highest attainable point of bodily perfection. — Dr. S. G. Howe. 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 303 

and fifty-nine idiots, the condition of whose progenitors 
was ascertained, ninety-nine were the children of drunk- 
ards. But this does not tell the whole story by any 
means. By drunkard is meant a person who is a noto- 
rious and habitual sot. Many persons who are habit- 
ually intemperate do not get this name even now ; 
much less would they have done so twenty-five or 
thirty years ago. By a pretty careful inquiry, with an 
especial view of ascertaining the number of idiots of 
the lowest class whose parents were known to be tem- 
perate persons, it is found that not one quarter can be so 
considered. 

From the pretty uniform action of a physiological 
law, which is now becoming well understood, it appears 
that idiots, fools, and simpletons, either in the first or 
second generation, are common among the progeny of 
intemperate persons, and may be considered as an effect 
of the habitual use of alcohol, even in moderate quanti- 
ties. If, moreover, one considers how many children 
of intemperate parents there are who, without being 
idiots, are deficient in bodily and mental energy, and 
predisposed by their very organization to have crav- 
ings for alcoholic stimulants, it will be seen what an 
immense burden the drinkers of one generation throw 
upon the succeeding one. 

Idiocy and the Marriage of Relatives. — Out of the 
three hundred and fifty-nine cases of congenital idiocy 
already referred to, in which the parentage was ascer- 
tained, " seventeen were known to be the children of 
parents nearly related by blood ; but, as many of these 
cases were adults, it was impossible to ascertain, in 
some cases, w T hether their parents, who were dead, 
were related or not before marriage. From some col- 
lateral evidence, we conclude that at least three more 
cases should be added to the seventeen. This would 



304 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

show that more than one twentieth of the idiots exam- 
ined are offspring of the marriage of relations. Now, 
as marriages between near relations are by no means 
in the ratio of one to twenty, nor even, perhaps, as one 
to a thousand to the marriages between persons not 
related, it follows that the proportion of idiotic progeny 
is vastly greater in the former than in the latter case. 
Then it should be considered that idiocy is only one 
form in which Nature manifests that she has been of- 
fended by such intermarriages. It is probable that 
blindness, deafness, imbecility, and other infirmities, 
are more likely to be the lot of the children of parents 
related by blood than of others. The probability, 
therefore, of unhealthy or infirm issue from such mar- 
riages becomes fearfully great, and the existence of the 
law against them is made out as clearly as though it 
were written on tables of stone. 

" The statistics of the seventeen families, the heads 
of which, being blood relatives, intermarried, tells a 
fearful tale. Most of the parents were intemperate or 
scrofulous ; some were both the one and the other ; of 
course, there were other causes to increase chances 
of infirm offspring besides that of the intermarriage. 
There were born unto them ninety-five children, of 
whom forty-four were idiotic, twelve others were scrof- 
ulous and puny, one was deaf, and one was a dwarf! 
In some cases, all the children were either idiotic, or 
very scrofulous and puny. In one family of eight chil- 
dren, five were idiotic." 

Condition of Idiots. — From what has been said of 
the character of parents to whom are born the greatest 
proportion of this most wretched and helpless class 
of persons, their condition and treatment might be in- 
ferred. To rear healthy children properly, a knowl- 
edge of the principles of physiology and mental science 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 305 

is essentially necessary. This knowledge is still more 
important in the treatment of idiots. Dr. Howe is of 
the opinion that it requires a rarer and higher kind of 
talent to teach an idiot than a youth of superior talent. 
When the time comes that schools for idiots are estab- 
lished all over the country, he thinks " it will be found 
more difficult to get good teachers for them than to get 
good professors for our colleges." 

After excepting five or six alms-houses in which the 
idiots are treated both kindly and wisely, the commis- 
sioners say, " the general condition of those at the public 
charge is most deplorable. They are filthy, gluttonous, 
lazy, and given up to abominations of various kinds. 
They not only do not improve, but they sink deeper and 
deeper into bodily depravity and mental degradation. 
Bad, however, as is the condition of the idiots who are 
at public charge, and gross as is the ignorance of those 
who take the charge of them about their real wants and 
capabilities, we are constrained to say that the condi- 
tion of those in private houses is, generally speaking, 
still worse, and the ignorance of the relatives and friends 
who support them is still more profound." 

This is not to be wondered at when we consider that 
idiots are generally born of a very poor stock — of per- 
sons who are subject to some disorders of the brain, or 
who are themselves scrofulous and puny to the last de- 
gree. Such persons are, generally, very feeble in in- 
tellect, poor in purse, and intemperate in habits. A 
great many of them are hardly able to take care of 
themselves. They are unfit to teach or train common 
children; how much less to take the charge of idiots, 
whose education is the most difficult of all ! 

The commissioners ascertained, mainly by personal 
observation, the condition of three hundred and fifty- 
five idiotic persons who are not town or state paupers. 



306 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

Of these there may be, at the most, five who are treated 
very judiciously ; who are taught by wise and discreet 
persons, and whose faculties -and capabilities are de- 
veloped to their fullest extent but the remaining three 
hundred and fifty are generally "in a most deplorable 
condition as it respects their bodily, mental, and moral 
treatment."* 

The commissioners come to the unquestionable con- 
clusion in their report that " nothing can afford a strong- 
er argument in favor of an institution for the proper 
training and teaching of idiots, and the dissemination 
of information upon the subject, than the striking dif- 
ference manifested in the condition of the few children 
who are properly cared for and judiciously treated, 
and those who are neglected or abused. There are 
cases in our community of youths who are idiotic from 
birth, but who, under proper care and training, have 
become cleanly in person, quiet in deportment, indus- 
trious in habits, and who would almost pass in society 
for persons of common intelligence; and yet their nat- 
ural capacity was no greater than that of others, who, 
from ignorance or neglect of their parents, have be- 

* One would hardly be credited if he should put down half the in- 
stances of gross ignorance manifested by parents in this enlightened 
community [the State of Massachusetts] in the treatment of idiotic 
children. Sometimes they find that the children seem to comprehend 
what they hear, but soon forget it ; hence they conclude that the brain 
is soft, and can not retain impressions, and then they cover the head 
with cold poultices of oak-bark in order to tan or harden the fibers. 
Others, finding that it is exceedingly difficult to make any impression 
upon the mind, conclude that the brain is too hard, and they torture the 
poor child with hot and softening poultices of bread and milk; or they 
plaster tar over the whole skull, and keep it on for a long time. These 
are innocent applications compared with some, which doubtless render 
weak-minded children perfectly idiotic. — Dr. S. G. Howe. 

What a striking illustration have we here of the necessity of diffusing 
correct physiological information more widely among the masses than 
has yet been done even in enlightened Massachusetts ! 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 307 

come filthy, gluttonous, lazy, vicious, depraved, and are 
rapidly sinking into driveling idiocy. This fact alone 
should be enough to encourage the state to take meas- 
ures at once for the establishment of a school or insti- 
tution for teaching or training idiots, if it were but a 
matter of experiment." 

Massachusetts is the only state in the Union that as 
yet has attempted to do any thing for the education 
and training of this hitherto neglected class of persons. 
The result of the first year's experiment has been most 
gratifying and encouraging. Of the whole number re- 
ceived, there was not one who was in a situation where 
any great improvement in his condition was probable, 
or hardly possible ; they were growing worse in habits, 
and more confirmed in their idiocy. But the process 
of deterioration in the pupils has been entirely stopped, 
and that of improvement has commenced ; and though 
a year is a very short time in the instruction of such 
persons, yet its effects are manifest in all of them. 
They have improved in personal appearance and hab- 
its, in general health, in vigor, and in activity of body. 
Some of them can control their appetites in a consider- 
able degree ; they sit at the table with their teachers, 
and feed themselves decently. Almost all of them have 
improved in the understanding and the use of speech. 
Some of them have made considerable progress in the 
knowledge of language ; they can select words printed 
on slips of paper, and a few can read simple sentences. 
But, what is most important, they have made a start 

FORWARD. 

" There is ground for confidence that the reasonable 
hopes of the friends of the experiment will be satisfied. 
All that they promised has been accomplished, so far 
as was possible in the period of a year. It has been 
demonstrated that idiots are capable of improvement, 



308 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

and that they can be raised from a state of low degra- 
dation to a higher condition. How far they can be 
elevated, and to what extent they may be educated, 
can only be shown by the experience of the future. 
The result of the past year's trial, however, gives con- 
fidence that each succeeding year will show even more 
progress than any preceding one." 

Education and Insanity. — It is well established that 
a defective and faulty education through the period of 
infancy and childhood is one of the most prolific causes 
of insanity. Such an education, or rather miseduca- 
tion, causes a predisposition in many, and excites one 
where it already exists, which ultimately renders the 
animal propensities of our nature uncontrollable. Ap- 
petites indulged and perverted, passions unrestrained, 
propensities rendered vigorous by indulgence, and sub- 
jected to no salutary restraint, bring persons into a 
condition in which both moral and physical causes 
easily operate to produce insanity, if they do not pro- 
duce it themselves. 

We must look to well-directed systems of popular 
education, having for their object physical improve- 
ment, no less than mental and moral culture, to relieve 
us from many of the evils which "flesh is heir to," and 
nothing can so effectually secure us from this most for- 
midable disease (as well as from others not less appall- 
ing) as that system of instruction which teaches us how 
to preserve the normal condition of the body and the 
mind ; to fortify the one against the catalogue of phys- 
ical causes which every where assail us, and to elevate 
the other above the influence of the trials and disap- 
pointments of life, so that the host of moral causes 
which affect the brain, through the medium of the mind, 
shall be inoperative and harmless. 

Those first principles of physical education which 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 309 

teach us how to avoid disease are all-important to all 
liable to insanity from hereditary predisposition. The 
physical health must be attended to, and the training 
of the faculties of the mind be such as to counteract the 
over-active propensities of our nature — correcting the 
bias of the mind to wrong currents and to too great 
activity by bringing into action the antagonizing pow- 
ers, and thus giving a sound body and a well-balanced 
mind. Neglect of this early training entails evils upon 
the young which are felt in all after life. 

These positions are stated and amplified in the able 
reports of Dr. S. B. Woodward, superintendent of the 
State Lunatic Asylum, Worcester, Mass., to which the 
reader is referred. They are also corroborated by 
persons who have had the care of the insane in other 
institutions. In the eighteenth annual report of the 
physician and superintendent of the Connecticut Retreat 
for the Insane, Dr. Brigham says, " a knowledge of the 
nature of the disease would frequently lead to its pre- 
vention. Insanity, in most cases, arises from undue 
excitement and labor of the brain ; for even if a predis- 
position to it is inherited, an exciting cause is essential 
to its development. Hence every thing likely to cause 
great excitement of the brain, especially in early life, 
should be avoided. 

" The records of cases at this institution and my own 
observation justify me in saying that the neglect of 
moral discipline, the too great indulgence of the pas- 
sions and emotions in early life, together with the ex- 
cessive and premature exercise of the mental powers, 
are among the most frequent causes that predispose to 
insanity. But these causes are in no other way oper- 
ative in producing insanity than by unduly exciting the 
brain. By neglect of moral discipline, a character is 
formed subject to violent passions, and to extreme emo- 



310 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

tions and anxiety from the unavoidable evils and dis- 
appointments of life, and thus the brain, by being often 
and violently agitated, becomes diseased; and by too 
early exercising and prematurely developing the men- 
tal powers, this organ is rendered more susceptible and 
liable to disease. 

" I am confident there is too much mental labor im- 
posed upon youth at our schools and colleges. There 
have been several admissions of young ladies at this 
institution direct from boarding-schools, and of young 
men from college, where they had studied excessively. 
Should such intense exertion of the mind in youth not 
lead to insanity or immediate disease, it predisposes to 
dyspepsy, hysteria, hypochondriasis, and affections al- 
lied to insanity, and which are often its precursors. 
Should that portion of the community who now act 
most wisely in obtaining a knowledge of the functions 
of the digestive organs, and in carefully guarding them 
from undue excitation, be equally regardful of the brain, 
they would do a very great service to society, and, in 
my opinion, do much toward arresting the alarming 
increase of insanity, and all disorders of the nervous 
system."* 

* In the education of many, very many, I fear, the same mistake is 
made as in the case of Lord Dudley, thus described in a late number 
of the London Quarterly Review: " The irritable susceptibility of the 
brain was stimulated at the expense of bodily power and health. His 
foolish tutors took a pride in his precocious progress, which they ought 
to have kept back. They watered the forced plant with the blood of 
life ; they encouraged the violation of Nature's laws, which are not to 
be broken in vain; they infringed the condition of conjoint moral and 
physical existence ; they imprisoned him in a vicious circle, where the 
overworked brain injured the stomach, which reacted to the injury of 
the brain. They watched the slightest deviation from the rules of logic, 
and neglected those of dietetics, to which the former are a farce. They 
thought of no exercises but Latin; they gave him a Gradus instead of 
a cricket-bat, until his mind became too keen for its mortal coil, and 
the foundation was laid for ill health, derangement of stomach, moral 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 311 



EDUCATION INCREASES HUMAN HAPPINESS. 

What is a man 

If his chief good and market of his time 

Be but to sleep and feed ? a beast, no more. 

Sure He that made us with such large discourse, 

Looking before and after, gave us not 

That capability and godlike reason 

To rust in us unused. — Shakspeare. 
All the happiness of man is derived from discovering, applying, or 
obeying the laws of his Creator ; and all his misery is the result of ig- 
norance or disobedience. — Dr. Watland. 

If the doctrines taught and the sentiments inculca- 
ted in the preceding chapters of this work, but more 
especially in the preceding sections of this chapter, are 
true ; if it is established that education dissipates the 
evils of ignorance ; that it increases the productiveness 
of labor ; that it diminishes pauperism and crime — if 
all this is true, it may seem a work of supererogation 
to attempt the establishment of the proposition that ed- 
ucation increases human happiness. I admit this seem- 
ing impropriety ; for that the proposition is true may 
be legitimately inferred from what has gone before. 
But I wish to amplify and extend this thought, and to 
show that education has, if possible, still higher claims 
upon our attention than have yet been presented ; that 
it not only has the power of removing physical and 
moral evils, and of multiplying and augmenting per- 
sonal and social enjoyments, but that, when rightly un- 
derstood, it constitutes our chief good ; that to it, and to 
it only, we may safely look for man's highest and endur- 
ing joys, and for the permanent elevation of the race. 

Man in Ignorance. — That we may be the better pre- 

pusillanimity, irresolution, lowness of spirits, and all the Protean mis- 
eries of nervous disorders, by which his after life was haunted, and 
which are sadly depicted in almost every letter before us." 



312 THE IMPORTANCE OP 

pared to appreciate the advantages of education, and 
its usefulness as a means of increasing human happi- 
ness, let us consider the state and the enjoyments of the 
man whose mind is shrouded in ignorance. He grows 
up to manhood like a vegetable, or like one of the lower 
animals that are fed and nourished for the slaughter. 
He exerts his physical powers because such exertion 
is necessary for his subsistence. Were it otherwise, 
we should most frequently find him dozing over the 
fire with a gaze as dull and stupid as his ox, regard- 
less of every thing but the gratification of his appetites. 
He has, perhaps, been taught the art of reading, but has 
never applied it to the acquisition of knowledge. His 
views are chiefly confined to the objects immediately 
around him, and to the daily avocations in which he is 
employed. His knowledge of society is circumscribed 
within the limits of his neighborhood, and his views of 
the world are confined within the range of the country 
in which he resides, or of the blue hills which skirt his 
horizon. 

Of the aspect of the globe in other countries, of the 
various tribes with which these are peopled, of the seas 
and rivers, continents and islands, w T hich diversify the 
landscape of the earth, of the numerous orders of ani- 
mated beings which people the ocean, the atmosphere, 
and the land, of the revolutions of nations, and the 
events which have taken place in the history of the 
world, he has almost as little conception as have the 
animals which range the forest. 

In regard to the boundless regions that lie beyond 
him in the firmament, and the bodies that roll there in 
magnificent grandeur, he has the most confused and in- 
accurate ideas ; indeed, he seldom troubles himself with 
inquiries in relation to such subjects. Whether the 
stars are great or small, whether they are near us or 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 313 

at a distance, and whether they move or stand still, are 
to him matters of trivial importance. If the sun gives 
him light by day and the moon by night, and the clouds 
distil their watery treasures upon his parched fields, he 
is contented, and leaves all such inquiries and investi- 
gations to those who have leisure and inclination to 
engage in them. He views the canopy of heaven as 
merely a ceiling to our earthly habitation, and the starry 
orbs as only so many luminous tapers to diversify its 
aspect, and to afford a glimmering light to the benighted 
traveler. 

Such a person has no idea of the manner in which 
the understanding may be enlightened and expanded 
by education ; he has no relish for intellectual pursuits, 
and no conception of the pleasures they afford ; and 
he sets no value on knowledge but in so far as it may 
increase his riches and his sensual gratifications. He 
has no desire for making improvements in his trade 
or domestic arrangements, and gives no countenance 
to those useful inventions and public improvements 
which are devised by others. He sets himself against 
every innovation, whether religious, political, mechan- 
ical, or agricultural, and is determined to abide by the 
"good old customs" of his forefathers, even though they 
compel him to carry his grist to mill in one end of a 
bag, with a stone in the other to balance it. Were 
it dependent upon him, the moral world would stand 
still, as the material world was supposed to in former 
times ; all useful inventions would cease ; existing evils 
would never be remedied ; ignorance and superstition 
would universally prevail ; the human mind would be 
arrested in its progress to perfection, and man would 
never arrive at the true dignity of his intellectual nature. 

It is evident that such an individual — and the world 
contains thousands and millions of such characters — 

O 



314 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

can never have his mind elevated to those sublime ob- 
jects and contemplations which enrapture the man of 
science, nor feel those pure and exquisite pleasures 
which cultivated minds so frequently experience ; nor 
can he form those lofty and expansive conceptions of 
the Deity which the grandeur and magnificence of his 
works are calculated to inspire. He is left as a prey 
to all those foolish notions and vain alarms which are 
engendered by ignorance and superstition ; and he 
swallows, without the least hesitation, all the absurdi- 
ties and childish tales respecting witches, hobgoblins, 
specters, and apparitions, which have been handed 
down to him by his forefathers. 

While the ignorant man thus gorges his mind with 
fooleries and absurdities, he spurns at the discoveries 
of science as impositions on the credulity of mankind, 
and contrary to reason and common sense. That the 
sun is a million of times larger than the earth ; that 
light flies from his body at the rate of a hundred thou- 
sand miles in the hundredth part of a second ; and that 
the earth is whirling round its axis from day to day 
with a velocity of a thousand miles every hour, are re- 
garded by him as notions far more improbable and ex- 
travagant than the story of the " Wonderful Lamp," and 
all the other tales of the " Arabian Night's Entertain- 
ments." In his hours of leisure from his daily avocations, 
his thoughts either run wild among the most groveling 
objects, or sink into sensuality and inanity ; and solitude 
and retirement present no charms to his vacant mind. 

While human beings are thus immersed in igno- 
rance, destitute of rational ideas and of a solid sub- 
stratum of thought, they can never experience those 
pleasures and enjoyments which flow from the exer- 
cise of the understanding, and which correspond to 
the dignity of a rational and immortal nature. 



POPULAR EDUCATION 315 

An enlightened Mind. — On the other hand, the man 
whose mind is irradiated with the light of substantial 
science has views, and feelings, and exquisite enjoy- 
ments to which the former is an entire stranger. In 
consequence of the numerous and multifarious ideas he 
has acquired, he is introduced, as it were, into a new 
world, where he is entertained with scenes, objects, 
and movements, of which the mind enveloped in- igno- 
rance can form no conception. He can trace back the 
stream of time to its commencement, and, gliding along 
its downward course, can survey the most memorable 
events which have happened in every part of its prog- 
ress, from the primeval ages to the present day ; the 
rise of empires, the fall of kings, the revolutions of na- 
tions, the battles of warriors, and the important events 
which have followed in their train ; the progress of 
civilization, and of the arts and sciences ; the judg- 
ments which have been inflicted on wicked nations, 
the dawnings of Divine mercy toward our fallen race, 
the manifestation of the Son of God in our nature, the 
physical changes and revolutions which have taken 
place in the constitution of our globe ; in short, the 
whole of the leading events in the chain of divine dis- 
pensation, from the beginning of the world to the pe- 
riod in which we live. 

With his mental eye the enlightened man can sur- 
vey the terraqueous globe in all its variety of aspects ; 
he can contemplate the continents, islands, and oceans 
which surround its exterior ; the numerous rivers by 
which it is indented ; the lofty ranges of mountains 
which diversify its surface ; its winding caverns ; its 
forests, lakes, and sandy deserts ; its whirlpools, boil- 
ing springs, and glaciers ; its sulphurous mountains, 
bituminous lakes, and the states and empires into which 
it is distributed : the tides and currents of the ocean ; 



31G THE IMPORTANCE OF 

the icebergs of the polar regions, and the verdant scenes 
of the torrid zone. 

Sitting at his fireside during the blasts of winter, the 
enlightened man can survey the numerous tribes of 
mankind scattered over the various climates of the 
earth, and entertain himself with views of their man- 
ners, customs, religion, laws, trade, manufactures, mar- 
riage ceremonies, civil and ecclesiastical governments, 
arts, sciences, cities, towns, and villages, and the ani- 
mals peculiar to every region. In his rural walks he 
can not only appreciate the beneficence of Nature, and 
the beauties and harmonies of the vegetable kingdom 
in their exterior aspect, but he can also penetrate into 
the hidden processes which are going on in the roots, 
trunks, and leaves of plants and flowers, and contem- 
plate the numerous vessels through which the sap is 
flowing from their roots through the trunks and branch- 
es ; the millions of pores through which their odorifer- 
ous effluvia exhale ; their fine and delicate texture ; 
their microscopical beauties ; their orders, genera, and 
species, and their uses in the economy of nature. 

Even when shrouded in darkness and in solitude, 
where other minds could find no enjoyment, the man 
of knowledge can entertain himself with the most sub- 
lime contemplations. He can trace the huge earth we 
inhabit flying through the depths of space, carrying 
along with it its vast population, at the rate of sixty 
thousand miles every hour, and, by the inclination of 
its axis, bringing about the alternate succession of sum- 
mer and winter, of seed-time and harvest. By the aid 
of his telescope he can transport himself toward the 
moon, and survey the circular plains, the deep caverns, 
the conical hills, the lofty peaks, and the rugged and 
romantic mountain scenery which diversify the sur- 
face of this orb of night. 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 317 

By the help of the same instrument he can range 
through the planetary system, wing his way through 
the regions of space along with the swiftest orbs, and 
trace many of the physical aspects and revolutions 
which have a relation to distant worlds. He can 
transport himself to the planet Saturn, and behold a 
stupendous ring six hundred thousand miles in circum- 
ference, revolving in majestic grandeur every ten 
hours around a globe nine hundred times larger than 
the earth, while seven moons larger than ours, along 
with an innumerable host of stars, display their radi- 
ance to adorn the firmament of that magnificent world. 
He can wing his flight through the still more distant 
regions of the universe, leaving the sun and all his plan- 
ets behind him, till they appear like a scarcely discern- 
ible speck in creation, and contemplate thousands and 
millions of stars and starry systems beyond the range 
of the unassisted eye, and wander among the suns and 
worlds dispersed throughout the boundless dimensions 
of space. 

In his imagination he can fill up those blanks which 
astronomy has never directly explored, and conceive 
thousands of systems and ten thousands of worlds be- 
yond all that is visible by the optic tube, stretching out 
to infinity on every hand, peopled with intelligences of 
various orders, and all under the superintendence and 
government of the "King Eternal, Immortal, and In- 
visible," whose power is omnipotent, and the limit of 
his dominions past finding out. 

It is evident that a mind capable of such excursions 
and contemplations as I have now supposed must ex- 
perience enjoyments infinitely superior to those of the 
individual whose soul is enveloped in intellectual dark- 
ness. If substantial happiness is chiefly situated in the 
mind ; if it depends on the multiplicity of objects which 



318 THE IjwPORTANCE OF 

lie within the range of its contemplation; if it is aug- 
mented by the view of scenes of beauty and sublimity, 
and displays of infinite intelligence and power; if it is 
connected with tranquillity of mind, which generally ac- 
companies intellectual pursuits, and the subjugation of 
the pleasures of sense to the dictates of reason, the en- 
lightened mind must enjoy gratifications as far superior 
to those of the ignorant as man is superior in station 
and capacity to the worms of the dust. 

In order to illustrate this topic a little further, I shall 
select a few facts and deductions in relation to science, 
which demonstrate the interesting nature and delight- 
ful tendency of scientific pursuits. 

There are several recorded instances of the power- 
ful effect which the study of astronomy has produced 
upon the human mind. Dr. Rittenhouse, of Pennsyl- 
vania, after he had calculated the transit of Venus, 
which was to happen June 3d, 1769, was appointed, at 
Philadelphia, with others, to repair to the township of 
Norriston, and there to observe this planet until its pas- 
sage over the sun's disc should verify the correctness 
of his calculations. This occurrence had never been 
witnessed but twice before by an inhabitant of our 
earth, and was never to be again seen by any person 
then living. A phenomenon so rare, and so important 
in its bearings upon astronomical science, was, indeed, 
well calculated to agitate the soul of one so alive as he 
was to the great truths of nature. The day arrived, 
and there was no cloud on the horizon. The observers, 
in silence and trembling anxiety, awaited for the pre- 
dicted moment of observation to arrive. It came, and 
in the instant^ of contact, an emotion of joy so powerful 
was excited in the bosom of Dr. Rittenhouse that he 
fainted. 

Sir Isaac Newton, after he had advanced so far in 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 319 

his mathematical proof of one of his great astronomical 
doctrines as to see that the result was to be triumphant, 
was so affected in view of the momentous truth he was 
about to demonstrate that he was unable to proceed, 
and begged one of his companions in study to relieve 
him, and carry out the calculation. These are striking 
illustrations, and the effect is perhaps heightened from 
their connection with a most sublime science, all of 
whose conclusions stand in open contradiction with 
those of superficial and vulgar observation. 

But the discovery and contemplation of truths in 
philosophy, chemistry, and the mathematics have, in 
numerous instances, awakened kindred emotions. The 
enlightened man sees in every thing he beholds upon 
the surface of the earth, whether animal or vegetable, 
and in the very elements themselves, no less than when 
contemplating the wonders of astronomy, instances in- 
numerable illustrative of the wisdom and beneficence 
of the Architect, all of which has a direct tendency to 
increase his happiness. In the invisible atmosphere 
which surrounds him, where other minds discern noth- 
ing but an immense blank, he beholds an assemblage 
of wonders, and a striking scene of divine wisdom and 
omnipotence. He views this invisible agent not only 
as a material, but as a compound substance, composed 
of two opposite principles, the one the source of flame 
and animal life, and the other destructive to both. He 
perceives the atmosphere as the agent under the Al- 
mighty which produces the germination and growth 
of plants, and all the beauties of the vegetable creation; 
which preserves water in a liquid state, supports fire 
and flame, and produces animal heat ; which sustains 
the clouds, and gives buoyancy to the feathered tribes; 
which is the cause of winds, the vehicle of smells, the 
medium of sounds, the source of all the pleasures we 



320 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

derive from the harmonies of music, the cause of the 
universal light and splendor which is diffused around 
us, and of the advantages we derive from the morning 
and evening twilight. He contemplates it as the prime 
mover in a variety of machines, as impelling ships 
across the ocean, raising balloons to the region of the 
clouds, blowing our furnaces, raising water from the 
deepest pits, extinguishing fires, and performing a thou- 
sand other beneficent agencies, without which our 
globe would cease to be habitable. No one can doubt 
that all these views and contemplations have a direct 
tendency to enlarge the capacity of the mind, to stimu- 
late its faculties, and to produce rational enjoyment. 

But there is another view of this subject which is 
perhaps still more impressive. The atmosphere, it has 
been stated, is a compound substance. A knowledge 
of its elementary principles, which chemistry teaches, 
introduces its possessor to a new world of happiness. 
The adaptation of air to respiration, and the influence 
of a change in the nature or proportion of its elements 
upon health and longevity, have already been consid- 
ered.* We have seen that carbonic acid, the vitiating 
product of respiration, although immediately fatal to 
animals, constitutes the very life of vegetation ; that in 
the growth of plants the vitiated air is purified and 
fitted again for the sustenance of animal life ; and that, 
by a beneficent provision of the Creator, animals and 
vegetables are thus perpetually interchanging kindly 
offices. It will suffice for our present purpose simply 
to remind the reader that the atmosphere is composed 
of the two gases, oxygen and nitrogen, united in the 
ratio of one to four by volume. Oxygen is a supporter 
of combustion, nitrogen is not. Increase the propor- 
tion of oxygen in the air, and the same substances burn 

* See Chapter IV., especially from the 89th page to the 105th. 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 321 

with increased brilliancy; but diminish the proportion 
gradually, and they will burn more and more dimly un- 
til they become extinct. Iron and steel, as well as 
wood and the ordinary combustibles, will burn with 
great brilliancy in pure oxygen. 

Water, I may add, is composed of the two gases, 
oxygen and hydrogen. The former, as we have seen, 
is a supporter of combustion, and the latter is one of 
the most combustible substances known. These two 
gases are nearly two thousand times more voluminous 
than their equivalent of water, and, when ignited, they 
combine with explosive energy. If, then, the Creator 
were to decompose the atmosphere that surrounds the 
earth to the height of forty-five miles, and the water 
that rests upon its surface, either or both of them, the 
oxygen, being specifically heavier than the nitrogen or 
hydrogen, would settle immediately upon the earth, 
and, coming in contact with fires here and there, its 
whole surface would, in an instant of time, be enveloped 
in one general conflagration, and " the day of the Lord," 
spoken of in the Scriptures, " in which the heavens 
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements 
shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the 
things therein shall be burned up," would be speedily 
ushered in. He who understands the first principles 
of chemical science can not fail to perceive how readi- 
ly (and in perfect accordance with laws well under- 
stood) such a general conflagration would take place 
were the great Architect simply to resolve these two 
elements — air and water — into their constituent parts. 
How full of meaning to such a one are the words of 
the Psalmist, The heavens declare the glory of God, 
and the firmament showeth his handiwork. 

One more illustration must suffice. All fluids, ex- 
cept water, contract in volume as they become colder 

N2 



322 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

to the point of congelation. But the point of greatest 
density in water is about eight degrees above freezing. 
As the temperature of all fluids increases above this 
point, their volume increases. As the temperature of 
all fluids, with the single exception of water, decreases, 
the volume decreases down to the freezing point. Water 
increases in density as it becomes colder until it reaches 
the temperature of forty degrees — eight degrees above 
the freezing point — when it begins to expand. This only 
exception to the general law of fluids is of greater import- 
ance in the economy of nature than most persons are 
conscious of. As the cold season advances in the tem- 
perate and frigid zones, the water in our lakes and rivers 
is reduced to the temperature of forty degrees ; but at 
this point, by a beneficent provision of an All-wise 
Providence, the upper substratum becomes specifically 
lighter, and is converted into a covering of ice, which, 
resting upon the water beneath, protects it from freez- 
ing. Moreover, when water is converted into ice, one 
hundred and forty degrees of heat are given out, a part 
of which, entering into the water below, retards the 
further formation of ice.* 

* I may here add, that exactly the reverse is true in the melting of 
snow and ice. It requires as much heat to convert these solids into 
fluids, without at all increasing their temperature, as it does to raise 
the temperature of water from the freezing point, one hundred and 
forty degrees, or from thirty-two to one hundred and seventy-two de- 
grees, as indicated by the thermometer. This principle is of vast im- 
portance to the world, and particularly to the inhabitants of cold coun- 
tries, where the ground is covered with snow and ice a part or the 
whole of the year. The transition from the cold of winter to the heat 
of summer, in some of the northern climates, takes place within a few 
days. In these climates, also, there are vast accumulations of snow 
and ice, which, but for this principle, would be converted into water 
as soon as the temperature of the atmosphere becomes above thirty- 
two degrees, which would produce a flood sufficient to inundate and 
destroy the whole country. But the uniform action of this law renders 
the melting of snow gradual, and no such accident ensues. 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 323 

If water, like other fluids, continued to increase in 
density to the freezing point, the cold air of winter 
would rob the water of our lakes and rivers of its heat, 
until the whole was reduced to the temperature of 
thirty-two degrees ; when, but for the circumstance tc 
which we have just alluded, it would be immediately 
converted into a solid mass of ice from top to bottom, 
causing instant death to every animal living in it. The 
lower strata of such a mass of ice would never again 
become liquefied. 

This is a striking proof of the beneficence and desigr 
of the Creator in forming water with such an excep- 
tion to the ordinary laws of nature, and a knowledge 
of it can hardly fail to exert a most salutary, elevating, 
and ennobling influence on the mind of its possessor. 
The field of human happiness, then, with the virtuous 
seems to enlarge in proportion as a knowledge of the 
works and laws of the beneficent Creator is extended 
There is little ground for doubt as to what is God's 
will in relation to the universal education of the family 
of man, when he has connected with the exercise of 
mind in the study of his works superior enjoyments and 
heavenly aspirations. 

The various propositions stated and elucidated in 
this chapter, we think, are as fully established as any 
moral truths need be, and, we doubt not, they com- 
mend themselves to the judgment and conscience of all 
who have carefully perused the preceding pages, if, 
indeed, they had not been duly considered and adopted 
before. If, then, a system of universal education, ju- 

A similar law is observed in the conversion of water into vapor, which 
is of great use in enabling us to cool apartments by sprinkling floors or 
hanging up moistened cloths. The heat of even a whole city is in like 
manner greatly moderated by frequently sprinkling the streets. It is 
on this account that gentle showers in hot weather are so cooling and 
refreshing. 



324 THE IMPORTANCE OF 

diciously administered, would dissipate the evils of ig- 
norance, which are legion ; if it would greatly increase 
the productiveness of labor; if it would diminish — not 
to say exterminate — pauperism and crime ; if it would 
prevent the great majority of fatal accidents that are 
constantly occurring in every community; if it would 
save the lives of a hundred thousand children in the 
United States every year, and as many more puny sur- 
vivors from dragging out a miserable existence in con- 
sequence of being the offspring of ignorant or vicious 
parents ; if it would prevent so much of idiocy, and 
would humanize those who are born idiots only, but 
have hitherto been permitted, nay, doomed to die 
brutes ; if it would prevent so much insanity, and 
would save to society and their family and friends, 
" clothed and in their right mind," multitudes of every 
generation who now dwell in mental darkness and 
gloom ; if it would increase the sum total of human 
happiness in proportion to its excellence, and the num- 
ber of persons who are brought under its benign influ- 
ence and uplifting power ; if it would do all this — and 
that this is its legitimate tendency there can be no doubt 
— it would seem that no enlightened community could 
be found in any country, and especially that there can 
be no state in this Union, that would not at once resolve 
upon maintaining a system of universal education by 
opening the doors of improved free schools to all her 
sons and daughters, and, if need be, employing agents, 
vigilant and active, " to go out into the highways and 
hedges, and compel them to come in." If this is not 
done, thousands and tens of thousands of every gener- 
ation will continue to lead cheerless lives, and will go 
down to their graves like the brute that perisheth, with- 
out knowing that He who gave to man life has also, 
in his goodness, which knows no bounds, provided that 



POPULAR EDUCATION. 325 

in the proper exercise of his faculties man shall find an 
inexhaustible source of happiness.* 



CHAPTER IX. 

POLITICAL NECESSITY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION. 

In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public 
opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened. — 
Washington. 

I do not hesitate to affirm not only that a knowledge of the true prin- 
ciples of government is important and useful to Americans, but that it 
is absolutely indispensable to carry on the government of their choice, 
and to transmit it to their posterity. — Judge Story. 

Every succeeding section of the last chapter went to 
show more and more clearly that, in proportion as the 
benign influences of a correct education are diffused 
among and enjoyed by the members of any commu- 
nity, will existing evils of every kind be diminished, 
and blessings be increased in number and degree. 
The subject of popular education, then, claims, and 
should receive, the sympathy and active support, ol 
every philanthropist and Christian, without regard to 
country or clime. We come now to consider a topic 
in which every patriot, and especially every true Amer- 
ican, as such, must feel a lively interest. 

Every citizen of our wide-spread country should be 
fully persuaded that the education of the people is the 
only permanent basis of national prosperity not only, 
but of national safety. This, in theory, is now con- 

* In the annual report of the Trustees of the New England Institu- 
tion for the Education of the Blind for the year 1834, this beautiful 
passage occurs: "The expression of one of the pupils, ' that she had 
never known, before she began to learn, that it was a happiness to be alive,' 
may be applied to many." 



326 POLITICAL NECESSITY OF 

ceded, and the importance of education is very gener- 
ally admitted among men, especially in our own coun- 
try. It is evident, however, that the conviction of its 
importance is not so deeply inwrought into the mind 
of society as it ought to be, for it does not manifest 
itself with all the power of earnest feeling in behalf ol 
education which the subject, in view of its acknowl- 
edged weightiness, justly demands. 

The objects and advantages of education heretofore 
considered apply equally to men of every nation and 
clime, under whatever form of government they may 
chance to dwell. It is otherwise in regard to the po- 
litical necessity of popular education. Here a partic- 
ular training is required to fit men for the government 
under which they are to live. In despotic governments, 
the object of popular education is to make good sub- 
jects, while upon us devolves the higher responsibility 
of so educating the people that they may become not 
only good subjects, but good sovereigns — all power 
originating in and returning to the sovereign people. 

Only seventy-four years ago, our fathers of the ever- 
memorable Revolution pledged " fortune, life, and sa- 
cred honor" to establish the independence of these 
United States. Under the fostering care of republic- 
an institutions, the tide of population rolled rapidly in- 
land, crossing the Alleganies, sweeping over the vast 
Valley of the Mississippi, nor resting in its onward 
course until it settled on the waters of the Columbia 
and the shores of the Pacific. Previous to the Revo- 
lutionary war, the English settlements were confined 
to the Atlantic coast ; now the tide of immigration 
seems to be to the shores of the Pacific, where states 
are multiplying and cities springing up as by magic. 
In a little more than half a century, the states of the 
Union have increased iu number from thirteen to thir- 



NATIONAL EDUCATION. 327 

ty, and in population in a ratio hitherto unprecedented, 
from three millions to twenty-five millions of souls. 

We stand in the same relation to posterity that our 
ancestors do to us. Each generation has duties of its 
own to perform ; and our duties, though widely differ- 
ent from those of our forefathers, are not less import- 
ant in their character or less binding in their obliga- 
tions. It was their duty to found or establish our in- 
stitutions, and nobly did they perform it. It is our es- 
pecial and appropriate duty to perfect and perpetuate 
the institutions we have received at their hands. The 
boon they would bequeath to the latest posterity can 
never reach and bless them except through our instru- 
mentality. Upon each present generation rest the 
duty and the obligation of educating and qualifying 
for usefulness that which immediately succeeds, upon 
which, in turn, will devolve a like responsibility. Each 
succeeding generation will, in the main, be what the 
preceding has made it. From this responsible agency 
there is, there can be, no escape. 

Trusts, responsibilities, and interests, vaster in 
amount and more sacred in character than have ever, 
in the providence of God, been committed to any peo- 
ple, are now intrusted to us. The great experiment 
of the capacity of man for self-government is being 
tried anew — an experiment which, wherever it has 
been tried, has failed, through an incapacity in the 
people to enjoy liberty without abusing it. We are, 
I doubt not, now educating the very generation during 
whose lifetime this great question will be decided. The 
present generation will, to a great extent, be responsi- 
ble for the result, whatever it may be. We are, there- 
fore, called upon, as American citizens and Christian 
philanthropists, to do all that in us lies to secure to this 
experiment a successful issue ; to make this the lead- 



328 POLITICAL NECESSITY OF 

ing nation of the earth, and a model worthy of imita- 
tion by all others. Never before this has a nation been 
planted with so hopeful an opportunity for becoming 
the universal benefactor of the race. 

If for the next fifty years the population of these 
American States shall continue to increase as during 
the last fifty, we shall exceed a hundred millions ; and 
in a century, allowing the same ratio of increase, the 
population will equal that of the Old World. Here, 
then, is a continent to be filled with innumerable mill- 
ions of human beings, who may be happy through our 
wisdom, but who must be miserable through our folly. 
We may disregard such considerations, but we can not 
escape the tremendous responsibilities rolling in upon 
us in view of the relations we sustain to the past and 
the future. We delight to honor, in words, those heroes 
and martyrs from whom we have received the rich 
boon of civil and religious liberty. Let us then, in 
deeds, imitate the examples we profess to admire, and 
contribute our full quota, as individuals and as a gen- 
eration, toward perfecting and perpetuating the institu- 
tions we have received, that they may be enjoyed by 
those countless millions who are to succeed us in this 
broad empire. 

" In this exigency," to adopt the language of an en- 
lightened practical educator and eminent statesman, 
" we need far more of wisdom and rectitude than we 
possess. Preparations for our present condition have 
been so long neglected, that we now have a double 
duty to perform. We have not only to propitiate to 
our aid a host of good spirits, but we have to exorcise 
a host of evil ones. Every aspect of our affairs, public 
and private, demonstrates that we need, for their suc- 
cessful management, a vast accession to the common 
stock of intelligence and virtue. But intelligence and 



NATIONAL EDUCATION. 329 

virtue are the product of cultivation and training. 
They do not spring up spontaneously. We need, there- 
fore, unexampled alacrity and energy in the application 
of all those influences and means which promise the 
surest and readiest returns of wisdom and probity, both 
public and private. 

" When the Declaration of Independence was car- 
ried into effect, and the Constitution of the United 
States was adopted, the civil and political relations of 
the generation then living, and of all succeeding ones, 
were changed. Men were no longer the same men, 
but were clothed with new rights and responsibilities. 
Up to that period, so far as government was concern- 
ed, they might have been ignorant ; indeed, it has gen- 
erally been held that where a man's only duty is obe- 
dience, it is better that he should be ignorant ; for why 
should a beast of burden be endowed with the sensibil- 
ities of a man ! Up to that period, so far as govern- 
ment was concerned, a man might have been unprin- 
cipled and flagitious. He had no access to the statute- 
book to alter or repeal its provisions, so as to screen 
his own violations of the moral law from punishment, 
or to legalize the impoverishment and ruin of his feliow- 
beings. But with the new institutions, there came new 
relations, and an immense accession of powers. New 
trusts of inappreciable value were devolved upon the 
old agents and upon their successors, irrevocably. 

" With the change in the organic structure of our 
government, there should have been corresponding 
changes in all public measures and institutions. For 
every dollar given by the wealthy or by the state to 
colleges to cultivate the higher branches of knowledge, 
a hundred should have been given for primary educa- 
tion. For every acre of land bestowed upon an acad- 
emy, a province should have been granted to common 



330 POLITICAL NECESSITY OF 

schools. Select schools for select children should have 
been discarded, and universal education should have 
joined hands with universal suffrage"* 

In the simplest form of civil government, there must 
exist a legislative, a judicial, and an executive depart- 
ment. But no expression of the national will in a sys- 
tem of laws can be sufficiently definite to supersede 
the necessity of a perpetual succession of Legislatures 
to supply defects, and to meet emergencies as they 
arise. However well-informed men may be, and how- 
ever pure the motives by which they are actuated, all 
experience hath shown that subjects will come up for 
consideration that will strike different minds in a vari- 
ety of forms. This, in a popular government, gives 
rise to opposing parties. Every man, then, in casting 
his vote for members of the Legislature, needs to under- 
stand what important questions will be likely to come 
before that branch of the government for settlement, to 
have examined them in their various bearings, and to 
have deliberately made up his opinion in relation to the 
interests involved, in order to vote understanding^ ; 
otherwise he will be as likely to oppose as to promote, 
not only the welfare of the state, but his own most 
cherished interests. 

The same remark that has been made in relation to 
the legislative department will apply to both the judi- 
cial and executive, and to the general government as 
well as to the several state governments. When the 
appointed day arrives for deciding the various ques- 
tions of state and national policy which divide men 
into opposing parties, there can be no delay. These 
various and conflicting questions must be decided, 

* From " an Oration delivered before the Authorities of the City of 
Boston, July 4th, 1842, by Horace Mann, Secretary of the Massachu- 
setts Board of Education." 



NATIONAL EDUCATION. 331 

whether much or little preparation has been made, or 
none at all. And, what is most extraordinary, each 
voter helps to decide every question which agitates 
the community as much by not voting as by voting. 
If the question is so vast or so complicated that any 
one has not time to examine and make up his mind in 
relation to it, or if any one is too conscientious to act 
from conjecture in cases of magnitude, and therefore 
stays from the polls, another, who has no scruples about 
acting ignorantly, or from caprice, or malevolence, 
votes, and, in the absence of the former, decides the 
question against the right. 

However simple our government may be in theory, 
it has proved, in practice, the most complex govern- 
ment on earth. More questions for legislative inter- 
position, and for judicial exposition and construction, 
have already arisen under it, ten to one, than have 
arisen during the same length of time under any other 
form of government in Christendom. We are a Union 
of thirty states ; a great nation composed of thirty sep- 
arate nations ; and even beyond these, the confederacy 
is responsible for the fate of vast territories, with their 
increasing population, and of numerous Indian tribes. 
Among the component states, there is the greatest va- 
riety of customs, institutions, and religions. Then we 
have the deeper inbred differences of language and 
ancestry among us, our population being made up of 
the lineage of all nations. Our industrial pursuits, also, 
are various; and, with a great natural diversity of soil 
and climate, they must always continue to be so. 
Moreover, across the very center of our territory a 
line is drawn, on one side of which all labor is volun- 
tary, while on the opposite side a system of involunta- 
ry servitude prevails. 

If, then, general intelligence and popular virtue are 



332 POLITICAL NECESSITY OF 

necessary for the successful administration of even the 
simplest forms of government, and if these qualities 
are required in a higher and still higher degree in pro- 
portion to the complexity of a government, then are 
both intelligence and virtue necessary in this govern- 
ment to an extent indefinitely beyond what has ever 
been required in any other. And especially is this 
true when we consider that our government is repre- 
sentative as it regards the people, and federative as it 
regards the states : and that, in this respect, it has no 
precedent on the file of nations. We hence require a 
double portion of general intelligence and practical 
wisdom. But men are not born in the possession of 
these requisites to self-government, neither are they 
necessarily developed in the growth from infancy to 
manhood. They are the - product of cultivation and 
training, and can be secured only through good schools 
opened to and enjoyed by all our youth. The stability 
of this government requires that universal education 
should precede universal suffrage. 

Under a free government, the intelligence of the peo- 
ple, coupled with their virtue, will be found to be a sure 
index to a nation's prosperity, and to the individual and 
social well-being of all who enjoy its protection. God 
is a being of infinite wisdom and goodness, and no part 
of his government can be successfully administered ex- 
cept upon the principles of knowledge and virtue. The 
success that attends a nation of freemen will depend 
upon the extent to which these are cultivated, and the 
universality of their dissemination in the body politic. 
While the cultivation of these will increase the safety 
of the government, their neglect will hasten its down- 
fall. 

Judge Story, in a lecture upon the importance of the 
science of government as a branch of popular educa- 



NATIONAL EDUCATION. 333 

tion, has well remarked, that " it is not to rulers and 
statesman alone that the science of government is im- 
portant and useful. It is equally indispensable for 
every American citizen, to enable him to exercise his 
own rights, to protect his own interests, and to secure 
the public liberties and the just operations of public au- 
thority. A republic, by the very constitution of its 
government, requires, on the part of the people, more 
vigilance and constant exertion than any other form 
of government. The American Republic, above all 
others, demands from every citizen unceasing vigilance 
and exertion, since we have deliberately dispensed with 
every guard against danger or ruin except the intelli- 
gence and virtue of the people themselves. It is found- 
ed on the basis that the people have wisdom enough 
to frame their own system of government, and public 
spirit enough to preserve it ; that they can not be 
cheated out of their liberties, and they will not submit 
to have them taken from them by force. We have si- 
lently assumed the fundamental truth that, as it never 
can be the interest of the majority of the people to pros- 
trate their own political equality and happiness, so they 
never can be seduced by flattery or corruption, by the 
intrigues of faction or the arts of ambition, to adopt any 
measures which shall subvert them. If this confidence 
in ourselves is justified — and who among Americans 
does not feel a pride in endeavoring to maintain it ? — let 
us never forget that it can be justified only by a watchful- 
ness and, zeal in proportion to our confidence. Let us 
never forget that we must prove ourselves wiser, better, 
and purer than any other nation ever has yet been, if 
we are to count upon success. Every other republic 
has fallen by the discords and treachery of its own cit- 
izens. It has been said by one of our own departed 
statesmen, himself a devout admirer of popular govern- 



334 POLITICAL NECESSITY OF 

ment, that power is perpetually stealing from the many 
to the few." 

The institutions of a republic are endangered by the 
ignorance of the masses on the one hand, and by in- 
telligent, but unprincipled and vicious aspirants to office 
and places of emolument on the other. Where these 
two classes coexist to any considerable extent, the 
safety of the republic is jeoparded; for they have a 
strong sympathy with each other, and it is the constant 
policy of the latter to increase the number of the former. 
They arouse their passions and stimulate their appe- 
tites, and then lead them in a way they know not. A 
barrel of whisky, or even of hard cider, with a "hur- 
rah !" will control ten to one more of this class of voters 
than will the soundest arguments of enlightened and 
honorable statesmen. And yet one of these votes thus 
procured, when deposited in the ballot-box, counts the 
same as the vote of a Washington or a Franklin ! 

There is one remedy, and but one, for this alarming 
state of things, which prevails to a less or greater ex- 
tent in almost every community. That remedy is sim- 
ple. It consists in the establishment of schools for the 
education of the whole people. These schools, how- 
ever, should be of a more perfect character than the 
majority of those which have hitherto existed. In them 
the principles of morality should be copiously inter- 
mingled with the principles of science. Cases of con- 
science should alternate with lessons in the rudiments. 
The rule requiring us to do to others as we w r ould that 
they should do unto us, should be made as familiar as 
the multiplication table, and our youth should become 
as familiar with the practical application of the one as 
of the other. The lives of great and good men should 
be held up for admiration and example, and especially 
the life and character of Jesus Christ, as the sublimest 



NATIONAL EDUCATION. 335 

pattern of benevolence, of purity, and of self-sacrifice 
ever exhibited to mortals. In every course of studies, 
all the practical and preceptive parts of the Gospel 
should be sacredly inculcated, and all dogmatical theol- 
ogy and sectarianism sacredly excluded. In no school 
should the Bible be opened to reveal the sword of the 
polemic, but to unloose the dove of peace. 

In connection with the preceding, and in addition to 
the branches now commonly taught in our schools, the 
study of politics, which has been beautifully defined as 
the art of making a people happy, should be generally 
introduced. "I am not aware," says an eminent jurist,* 
" that there are any solid objections which can be urged 
against introducing the science of government into our 
common schools as a branch of popular education. If 
it should be said that it will have a tendency to intro- 
duce party creeds and party dogmas into our schools, 
the true answer is, that the principles of government 
should be there taught, and not the creeds or dogmas 
of any party. The principles of the Constitution under 
which we live ; the principles upon which republics 
generally are founded, by which they are sustained, 
and through which they must be saved ; the principles 
of public policy, by which national prosperity is se- 
cured, and national ruin averted — these certainly are 
not party creeds or party dogmas, but are fit to be 
taught at all times and on all occasions, if any thing 
which belongs to human life and our own condition is 
fit to be taught. If we wait until we can guard our- 
selves against every possible chance of abuse before 
we introduce any system of instruction, we shall wait 
until the current of time has flowed into the ocean of 
eternity. There is nothing which ever has been or 
ever can be taught without some chance of abuse; 

* Joseph Story, before the American Institute of Instruction. 



336 POLITICAL NECESSITY OF 

nay, without some absolute abuse. Even religion it- 
self, our truest and our only lasting hope and consola- 
tion, has not escaped the common infirmity of our na- 
ture. If it never had been taught until it could be 
taught with the purity, simplicity, and energy of the 
apostolic age, we ourselves, instead of being blessed 
with the bright and balmy influences of Christianity, 
should now have been groping our way in the dark- 
ness of heathenism, or left to perish in the cold and 
cheerless labyrinths of skepticism." 

Lord Brougham, one of the most powerful advocates 
of popular education in our day, has made the follow- 
ing remarks, which can not be more fitly addressed to 
any people than to the citizens of the American States. 
"A sound system of government," says this transatlantic 
writer, " requires the people to read and inform them- 
selves upon political subjects ; else they are the prey 
of every quack, every impostor, and every agitatoi 
who may practice his trade in the country. If they dc 
not read ; if they do not learn ; if they do not digest bv 
discussion and reflection what they have read and 
learned ; if they do not qualify themselves to form 
opinions for themselves, other men will form opinions 
for them, not according to the truth and the interests 
of the people, but according to their own individual 
and selfish interest, which may, and most probably 
will, be contrary to that of the people at large." 

Two very important inquiries here naturally sug- 
gest themselves to us : they are, first, whether there is 
at present in this country a degree of intelligence suf- 
ficient for the wise administration of its affairs ; and. 
secondly, whether existing provisions for the education 
of our country's youth are adequate to the wants of a 
great and free people, who are endeavoring to demon- 
strate to the world that great problem of nations — the 



NATIONAL EDUCATION. 337 

capability of man for self-government. We judge of 
the literary attainments of the citizens of a state or of 
a nation, as a whole, by comparing all the individual 
members thereof with a given standard, and of their 
arrangements for educating the rising generation by 
the character of their schools, and the proportion of the 
population that receive instruction in them. Let us 
test the existing standard of education in various states 
of this Union in both of these respects. 

Degree of popular Intelligence. — According to 
the census of 1840, # the total population of the United 
States was, in round numbers, seventeen millions. Of 
this number, five hundred and fifty thousand were 
whites over twenty years of age, who could not read 
and write. The proportion varies in different states, 
from one in five hundred and eighty-nine in Connecti- 
cut, to one in eleven in North Carolina. 

If we exclude, in the estimate, all colored persons, 
and whites under twenty years of age, the proportion 
will stand thus : in the United States, one to every 
twelve is unable to read and write. The proportion 
varies in the different states, from one in two hundred 
and ninety-four in Connecticut, which stands the highest, 
to one in three in North Carolina, which stands the 
lowest. In Tennessee the proportion is one in four. 
In Kentucky, Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, and 
Arkansas, each, one in five. In Delaware and Ala- 
bama, each, one in six. In Indiana, one in seven. In 
Illinois and Wisconsin, each, one in eight. 

* The census for 1850 is bow being taken. Whether its results will 
tell more favorably upon the general interests of education in the United 
States than those of the last census, remains to be seen. Some of the 
Btates during the last ten years have done nobly ; others have evident- 
ly retrograded. We have also a tide of foreign immigration pouring 
in upon us hitherto unprecedented, averaging a thousand a day for the 
past year, all of whom need to be Americanized. 

P 



338 POLITICAL NECESSITY OF 

On the brighter end of the scale, next to Connecti- 
cut, in which the proportion is one in two hundred and 
ninety-four, is New Hampshire, in which the propor- 
tion is one in one hundred and fifty-nine. In Massa- 
chusetts it is one in ninety. In Maine, one in seventy- 
two. In Vermont, one in sixty-three. Next in order 
comes Michigan, in which the proportion is one in thir- 
ty-nine.* 

But these statements in relation to the number of 
persons in the United States who are unable to read 
and write, although they give the fearful aggregate of 
five hundred and fifty thousand over twenty years of 
age who are destitute of these qualifications, it is be- 
lieved, fail to discover much of gross ignorance that is 
cherished in various portions of the country ; for there 
is no state in the Union, nor any section of a single 
state, where men do not wish to be accounted able to 
read and write. The deputy marshals who took the 
census received their compensation by the head, and 
not by the day, for the work done. They therefore 
traveled from house to house, making the shortest prac- 
ticable stay at each. More was required of them than 

* According to the last census, there were twenty states below Mich- 
igan, and only five above her. But even this estimate, favorable as it 
is in the scale of states, does not allow Michigan an opportunity to ap- 
pear in her true light, for it is well known that a great proportion of 
the illiterate population of this state is confined to a few counties. In 
Mackinaw and Chippewa counties there is one white person over 
twenty years of age to eveiy five of the entire population that is unable 
to read and write. In Ottawa, one in fourteen ; in Cass, one in twenty- 
two ; in Wayne and Saginaw, each, one in thirty-six. On the other 
hand, there were eight organized counties in the state in which, ac- 
cording to the census referred to, there was not a single white inhab- 
itant over twenty years of age that was unable to read and write. It 
is an interesting fact, at least to persons residing in the Northwest, that 
in Ohio also (on the Western Reserve) there were seven such counties, 
making fifteen hi these two states, while in all New England there 
were but two — Franklin in Massachusetts, and Essex in Vermont. 



NATIONAL EDUCATION. 339 

could be thoroughly and accurately performed in the 
time allowed. Their informants were subjected to no 
test. In the absence of the heads of families, whose 
information would have been more reliable, the bare 
word of persons over sixteen years of age was accred- 
ited. It is, moreover, well known, that no inconsider- 
able number of persons gave false information when 
inquired of by the deputies. From these and other 
reasons, it is believed that numerous and important er- 
rors exist in the census ; and this opinion is corrobora- 
ted by a mass of unquestionable testimony, of which I 
will introduce a specimen. 

The annual message of Governor Campbell, of Vir- 
ginia, to the Legislature of that state, the year immedi- 
ately preceding that in which the census was taken, 
clearly show T s that the capacity to read and write in 
persons over twenty years of age was greatly over- 
estimated in that state. Governor Campbell, after 
stating that the importance of an efficient system of 
education, embracing in its comprehensive and benev- 
olent design the whole people, can not be too frequent- 
ly recurred to, goes on to remark as follows : 

" The statements furnished by the clerks of five city 
and borough courts, and ninety-three of the county 
courts, in reply to the inquiries addressed to them, as- 
certain that, of all those who applied for marriage li- 
censes, a large number were unable to write their 
names. The years selected for this inquiry were those 
of 1817, 1827, and 1837. The statements show that 
the applicants for marriage licenses for 1817 amounted 
to 4682, of whom 1127 were unable to write ; 5048 in 
1827, of whom the number unable to write was 1166 ; 
and in 1837 the applicants were 4614, and of these the 
number of 1047 were unable to write their names. 
From which it appears there still exists a deplorable 



340 POLITICAL NECESSITY OF 

extent of ignorance, and that, in truth, it is hardly less 
than it was twenty years ago, when the school fund 
was created. The statements, it will be remembered, 
are partial, not embracing quite all the counties, and 
are, moreover, confined to one sex. The education of 
females, it is to be feared, is in a condition of much 
greater neglect. 

" There are now in the state two hundred thousand 
children between the ages of five and fifteen. Forty 
thousand of them are reported to be poor children, and 
of them only one half to be attending schools. It may 
be safely assumed that, of those possessing property 
adequate to the expenses of a plain education, a large 
number are growing up in ignorance, for want of schools 
within convenient distances. Of those at school, many 
derive little or no instruction, owing to the incapacity 
of the teachers, as well as to their culpable negligence 
and inattention. Thus the number likely to remain 
uneducated, and to grow up without just perceptions 
of their duties, religious, social, and political, is really 
of appalling magnitude, and such as to appeal with af- 
fecting earnestness to a parental Legislature." 

If there shall appear any want of agreement between 
these statements and the returns made by the deputy 
marshals, no one need be in doubt in relation to which 
has the strongest claims for credence. These state- 
ments were communicated by the governor of a proud 
state to the Legislature in his annual message. Unlike 
the statistics collected by the marshals, each case was 
subjected to an infallible test ; for no man who could 
make a scrawl in the similitude of his name would sub- 
mit to the mortification of making his mark, and leaving 
it on record in a written application for a marriage li- 
cense. The requisition was made upon the officers of 
the courts, and the evidence, which was of a document- 



NATIONAL EDUCATION. 341 

ary or judicial character, is the highest known to the 
law. The result was, that almost one fourth of all the 
men applying for marriage licenses — more than thirty- 
three hundred in three years — were unable to write 
their names ! And Governor Campbell clearly inti- 
mates an opinion that "the education of females is in a 
condition of much greater neglect !" 

In round numbers, the free white population of Vir- 
ginia over twenty years of age is three hundred and 
thirty thousand. One fourth of this number is eighty- 
two and a half thousand, which, according to the evi- 
dence presented by Governor Campbell, is the lowest 
possible limit at which the minimum of adults unable to 
read and write can be stated. But the census number 
is less than fifty-nine thousand, making a difference ot 
nearly twenty-four thousand, or more than forty per 
cent. 

There are several states of about the same rank as 
Virginia in the educational scale. Kentucky, Tennes- 
see, and North Carolina sink even below her. The last- 
named state, with a free white population over twenty 
years of age of less than 210,000, has the appalling 
number, even according to the census, of 56,609 who 
are unable to read and write. In other words, forty- 
two hundred more than one fourth of the whole free 
population over twenty years of age are, in the edu- 
cational scale, absolutely below zero. 

Now if to the five hundred and fifty thousand free 
white population in the United States over the age of 
twenty years who are unable to read and write, as 
shown by the census, we add forty per cent, for its 
under-estimates, as facts require us to do in the case 
of Virginia, it would increase the total to seven hundred 
and seventy thousand. Suppose one fourth of these 
only are voters — that is, deduct one half for females, and 



342 POIITICAL NECESSITY OF 

allow that one half of the male moiety is made up of 
persons either between twenty and twenty-one years 
of age, or of those who are unnaturalized, which is a 
most liberal allowance when we consider where the 
great mass of ignorance belongs, and that the number 
of ignorant immigrants is much less at the South than 
at the North — and we have 192,500 voters in the 
United States who are unable to read and write. 

Now, at the presidential election for the same year 
that the census w r as taken, when, to use the graphic 
language of another, " every voter not absolutely in his 
winding sheet was carried to the polls, when the har- 
vest field was so thoroughly swept that neither stubble 
nor tares were left for the gleaner," the majority for the 
successful candidate was 146,081, more than 46,000 
less than the estimated number of legal voters at that 
time in the United States unable to read and write. 
At this election a larger majority of the electoral votes 
was given for the successful candidate than was ever 
given to any other President of the United States, with 
the exception of Mr. Monroe in 1820, against whom 
there was but one vote. General Harrison's popular 
majority, also, was undoubtedly the largest by which 
any President of the United States has ever been elect- 
ed, with the exception above mentioned of Mr. Mon- 
roe, and perhaps that of General Washington at his 
second election. And yet this majority, large as it was, 
was more than 46,000 less than the estimated number of 
our legal voters who, in the educational scale, are ab- 
solutely below zero. 

And then it should be borne in mind that hundreds 
of thousands who are barely able to read and write 
may never have acquired " a knowledge of the true 
principles of government," which, in the language of 
Judge Story, at the head of this chapter, " is not only 



NATIONAL EDUCATION. 343 

important and useful to Americans, but is absolutely 
indispensable to carry on the government of their 
choice, and to transmit it to posterity." It should also 
be borne in mind that popular virtue is not less essen- 
tial to the stability of a free government than is gen- 
eral intelligence. Nay, more ; if the liberties of this 
republic are more endangered by any one class of peo- 
ple than by all others, that class consists of intelligent 
but unprincipled political aspirants. The connection 
between ignorance and vice has already been referred 
to, and is well known among intelligent men ; but by 
none so well, it may be, as by the unprincipled aspirant, 
who, by pandering to the vicious appetites of the igno- 
rant and the vile, and then by base flattery pronouncing 
them "highly intelligent, enlightened, and civilized," 
take advantage of their very want of qualification "to 
manufacture political capital." These are they to 
whom Lord Brougham refers when he says, " other 
men will form opinions for them, not according to truth 
and the interests of the people, but according to their 
own individual and selfish interest, which may, and 
most probably will, be contrary to that of the people 
at large." We can not, then, avoid coming to the un- 
welcome and dread conclusion that there is not at 
present in this country a sufficient degree of intelli- 
gence and virtue for the wise, or even the safe admin- 
istration of its affairs. It remains to consider whether 
existing provisions for the education of our country's 
youth are adequate to the wants of the American people. 
Existing Provisions for Education. — Of the seven- 
teen millions of persons in the United States, accord- 
ing to the last census, 3,726,080 — one in five of the en- 
tire population — w T ere free white children between the 
ages of five and fifteen years. This is the lowest esti- 
mate I have ever known made of the ages between 



344 POLITICAL NECESSITY OF 

which children should regularly attend school. The 
ages usually stated between which children generally 
should attend school at least ten months during the 
year, are from four to sixteen, or from four to eighteen 
years, and sometimes from four to twenty or twenty- 
one years. 

But what is the actual attendance upon the primary 
and common schools of the country ? It is only 
1,845,244, or, to vary the expression and give it more 
definiteness, the total number of children in attendance 
upon all our schools, any part of the year, is twenty 
thousand less than one half of the free-born white chil- 
dren in the United States between the ages of five and 
fifteen vears ! And then it should be borne in mind 
that the same general motives which would lead to an 
under- statement in regard to the number of persons 
unable to read and write, would lead to an over- state- 
ment in regard to the number of those attending school. 
The educational statistics of some of the states, made 
out by competent and faithful school officers, show that 
the whole number of scholars that attended school any 
part of the time during the school year 1840-41 — the 
year the census was taken — was several thousand less 
than the number according to the census.* 

If we were to embrace in the estimate the whole 
number of students in attendance at the universities, 
colleges, academies, and seminaries of learning of every 
grade, it would not materially vary the result, for all 

* In Massachusetts, according to a statement made by the Secretary 
of the Board of Education, the whole number of scholars who were in 
all the public schools any part of the school year 1840-41 \v;is but 
155,041, and the average attendance was, in the winter, 116,3.98, and in 
the summer, 96,802 ; while the number given in the census is 158.351, 
which is greater by 3310 than the entire number that attended school 
any part of the year, according to the returns, and 55,751 more than 
the average attendance for half of the year. 



NATIONAL EDUCATION. 345 

these taken together are less than one tenth part of the 
number in attendance upon the common schools-. That 
the number of children attending schools of any grade 
is less than might be inferred from the foregoing state- 
ments, will be apparent when we consider the follow- 
ing facts. 

In the United States, taken together as a whole, only 
one person in ten of the population attends any school 
whatever any part of the year. Now it is well known 
that a large number of children under five years of 
age attend school in many parts of the country, and a 
much greater number that are over fifteen years of 
age. I have already said that the entire number of 
children in attendance upon all our schools is twenty 
thousand less than one half of the entire number of free- 
born white children in the United States between the 
ages of five and fifteen years. This leaves two mill- 
ions of children uninstructed. We shall have a more 
just view of the scantiness of our provisions for ade- 
quate national education if to this number, appalling 
as it is, we add the total number of those attending 
under five and over fifteen in various portions of the 
country. 

Again : no one supposes that in any part of the Un- 
ion adequate provisions are made for the education of 
the rising generation, even in a single state. But in 
the New England states, and in New York and Mich- 
igan, one fourth part of the entire population attend 
school some part of the year. This is twice and a halt 
the general average throughout the Union, and more 
than five times the average attendance in the majority 
of the remaining states. 

In round numbers, the proportion of the entire popu- 
lation that attend school in the different states of the 
Union is, according to the census, in Maine, New 

P2 



346 POLITICAL NECESSITY OF 

Hampshire, and Vermont, each, one in three. In Mich- 
igan,* Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York, the 
proportion is one in four. In Rhode Island, it is one in 
five. In Ohio and New Jersey, each, one in six. In 
Pennsylvania, one in eight. In no other state is the 
proportion more than one in ten, while in ten states 
it is less than one in twenty-five. 

In fixing this proportion, the nearest whole number 
has been used. In no state is the proportion in attend- 
ance upon the schools as high as one in three. Mich- 
igan heads the states in which the proportion is one in 
four. In this state the proportion is somewhat greater 
than one in four ; it is, however, nearer this than one 
in three. In the other states the proportion is less than 
one in four. The states are all arranged according to 
the size of the fraction, there being less difference in the 
attendance in Vermont and Michigan than in the latter 
state and New York. 

At the time the last census was taken, Michigan had 
recently been admitted into the Union, and the state 
government being but just organized, the school system 
had only gone partially into operation. According to 
the census of 1840, the proportion in attendance upon 
the schools of this state was only one in seven. Dur- 
ing the interval from 1840 to 1845, at which time the 
census of this state was again taken, the population had 
increased from two hundred and twelve thousand to 
upward of three hundred thousand, showing an in- 
crease of about fifty per cent. ; the number of primary 
schools had increased from less than ten thousand to 
more than twenty thousand, making an increase of 
more than one hundred per cent. ; and the attendance 

* In determining the proportion for this state, the census for 1845 
and the school returns for that year were the data used. In the other 
states I have been obliged to use the census returns of 1840. 



NATIONAL EDUCATION. 347 

upon these schools had advanced from thirty thousand 
to seventy-six thousand, giving the very remarkable 
increase of one hundred and fifty per cent, in five years, 
when, as already stated, the proportion in attendance 
upon the common schools was more than one in four 
of the entire population. And during the next two 
years the number of children in attendance upon the 
schools increased from seventy-six thousand to one hun- 
dred and eight thousand, showing an advance of more 
than forty per cent, from 1845 to 1847. 

It is gratifying to know that this important interest, 
which underlies all others, is receiving increased atten- 
tion in various portions of the United States. Among 
the most striking illustrations that I have noticed of 
these indications of national improvement, I will in- 
stance two.* The following interesting items of fact 
are gleaned from an address by the superintendent be- 
fore the public schools of New Orleans, February 22d, 
1850 — a most befitting day for a school celebration. 
These statistics strike us more forcibly when we con- 
sider that they relate to the metropolis of the South, 
and to the capital of a state in which, according to the 
last census, only one person in one hundred received 
instruction in the primary and common schools of the 
state. The public schools of the second municipality 
of New Orleans were established in 1842, comprising 
at that time less than three hundred pupils. Now the 

* My information is derived from the ** Southern Journal of Educa- 
tion" for May, 1850— a monthly for the promotion of popular intelli- 
gence, published from Knoxville, Tenn. — Samuel A. Jewett, Editor and 
Publisher. This journal is ably conducted, and has now reached its 
third volume. This certainly is a very encouraging omen, especially 
when we consider that it has so long survived in a state where, accord- 
ing to the last census, only one in thirty-three of the entire population 
attended school. May it long continue to do good service in this im- 
portant cause. 



348 POLITICAL NECESSITY OF 

constant attendance is upward of three thousand — ten 
times what it was eight, years ago. But even this in- 
crease, large as it may seem, is not sufficient to consti- 
tute the proportion in attendance upon the schools of 
the state even one in fifty of the entire population. 

Kentucky furnishes the other indication of improve- 
ment which I propose to notice. In this state, accord- 
ing to the last census, only one in thirty-three of the 
entire population attended the common schools during 
any part of the year. The number of children at the 
present time in that commonwealth, as reported by the 
second auditor, between the ages of five and sixteen, 
leaving out the colored children, is one hundred and 
ninety-three thousand. The number provided with 
schools, as reported in 1847, was twenty-one thousand ; 
in 1848, thirty-three thousand ; and in 1849, eighty- 
seven thousand ; showing a clear advance in two years 
of sixty-six thousand.* But, with all this improve- 
ment, one hundred and five thousand children do not 
derive any personal benefit from the public school sys- 
tem. In other words, eighteen thousand more children 
in this state are still growing up without instruction 
than as yet attend the schools. And the utter inade- 

* This improvement well illustrates the advantages resulting to the 
state from the able and faithful supervision of her public schools. A 
correspondent of the Baltimore American speaks of the Annual Report 
of Dr. Robert Breckenridge, Superintendent of Public Instruction, 
to the General Assembly of Kentucky, as follows: " It is the most im- 
portant document which has been submitted to that body during the 
present session, and reflects great credit upon the energy, fidelity, and 
comprehensive aims of the superintendent in the discharge of his high 
duties. It is now but two years since Dr. Breckenridge was appointed 
to the office, and the great service he has rendered to the cause of pop- 
ular education in the state is strikingly exhibited in the contrast be- 
tween the present condition of the common schools, and that in which 
he found them when he received his appointment from the Board of 
Education." 



NATIONAL EDUCATION. 349 

quacy of the common school privileges of even these 
will be apparent when it is understood that in the great 
majority of the districts more than nine tenths of the 
schools are taught but three months during the year. 

We have as yet only considered the great destitu- 
tion of schools of any kind, in which the moiety of the 
children that attend school at all receive instruction, 
and the fact that very many of these are kept open but 
three months during the year.* The inadequacy of 
existing provisions for the proper education of the ris- 
ing generation will be more strikingly apparent when 
we consider the incompetency of, I may perhaps safely 
say, the majority of persons who are put in charge of 
the public schools of the country. It is readily con- 
ceded that, in those states where education has receiv- 
ed most attention, there are many teachers who are 
thoroughly furnished unto all good works. But it is 
far otherwise with the majority of teachers even in the 
more favored states. The testimony of Governor 
Campbell already quoted, will apply to the teachers of 
many other states. After speaking of the large num- 
ber of children in Virginia that " are growing up in 
ignorance for want of schools within convenient dis- 
tances," he remarks, that " of those at school, many de- 
rive little or no instruction, owing to the incapacity of 
the teachers, as well as to their culpable negligence 
and inattention." 

President Caldwell, of the University of North Car- 

* Even in Massachusetts the average length of time the schools of 
the state continue is less than eight months, and the average continu- 
ance in several of the counties is only five months. The average at- 
tendance upon the schools for the time they are kept open is sixty-two 
per cent, of the number between the ages of four and sixteen years ; 
but in some instances only twenty-six per cent, of the children in a 
town — about one fourth of the number within the school ages — attend 
school. 



350 POLITICAL NECESSITY OF 

olina, in a series of letters on popular education, ad- 
dressed to the people of that state a few years ago 
proposes a plan for the improvement of common edu- 
cation. The first and greatest existing evil which he 
specifies is the want of qualified teachers. Any one 
who " knows how to read, and write, and cipher," it is 
said, is regarded as fit to be a " schoolmaster." 

"Is a man," remarks President Caldwell, "constitu- 
tionally and habitually indolent, a burden upon all from 
whom he can extract a support? Then there is one 
way of shaking him off; let us make him a schoolmas- 
ter ! To teach a school is, in the opinion of many, lit- 
tle else than sitting still and doing nothing. Has any 
man wasted all his property, or ended in debt by indis- 
cretion and misconduct ? The business of school-keep- 
ing stands wide open for his reception ; and here he 
sinks to the bottom, for want of capacity to support 
himself. Has any one ruined himself, and done all he 
could to corrupt others by dissipation, drinking, seduc- 
tion, and a course of irregularities ? Nay, has he re- 
turned from a prison, after an ignominious atonement 
for some violation of the laws ? He is destitute of char- 
acter, and can not be trusted; but presently he opens 
a school, and the children are seen flocking to it ; for, 
if he is willing to act in that capacity — we shall all ad- 
mit that he can read, write, and cipher to the square 
root — he will make an excellent schoolmaster. In 
short, it is no matter what the man is, or what his man- 
ners or principles ; if he has escaped with his life from 
the penal code, we have the satisfaction to think that he 
can still have credit as a schoolmaster." 

The Georgia convention of teachers, in a published 
address, after speaking of the importance of giving a 
more extended education to our youth as citizens, and 
giving an outline of a liberal system of popular educa- 



NATIONAL EDUCATION. 351 

tion, go on to remark as follows : " Alas ! how far 
should we be elevated above our present, level if all of 
them were thus enlightened ! But how many sons and 
daughters of free-born Americans are unable to read 
their native language ! How many go to the polls who 
are unable to read the very charter of their liberties ! 
How many, by their votes, elect men to legislate upon 
their dearest interests, while they themselves are una- 
ble to read even the proceedings of those legislators 
whom they have empowered to act for them !" 

In accounting for this lamentable state of things, the 
committee of the Convention say, " We seem to forget 
that first principles are, in education, all-important prin- 
ciples ; that primary schools are the places where these 
principles are to be established, and where such direc- 
tion will, in all probability, be given to the minds of 
our children as will decide their future character in 
life. Hence the idle, and the profane, and the drunk- 
en, and the ignorant are employed to impart to our 
children the first elements of knowledge — are set be- 
fore them as examples of what literature and science 
can accomplish ! And hence the profession of school- 
master, which should be the most honorable, is but too 
often a term of reproach." 

That other most unwelcome and dread conclusion, 
that existing provisions for popular education in the 
United States are inadequate to the requirements of a 
free people, is, then, in view of all these facts, unavoid- 
ably forced upon us. 

In the name of Christian philanthropy, in the name of 
patriotism, then, I inquire whether there is any ground 
for hope that our free institutions may be transmitted 
unimpaired to posterity. " With the heroes, and sages, 
and martyrs of the Revolution," to adopt the language 
of another, " I believe in the capability of man for self- 



352 POLITICAL NECESSITY OF 

government, my whole soul thereto most joyously as- 
senting. Nay, if there be any heresy among men, or 
blasphemy against God, at which the philosopher might 
be allowed to forget his equanimity, and the Christian 
his charity, it is the heresy and the blasphemy of be- 
lieving and avowing that the infinitely good and all- 
wise Author of the universe persists in creating and 
sustaining a race of beings who, by a law of their na- 
ture, are forever doomed to suffer all the atrocities and 
agonies of misgovernment, either from the hands of 
others or from their own. The doctrine of the inher- 
ent and necessary disability of mankind for self-gov- 
ernment should be regarded not simply with denial, but 
with abhorrence; not with disproof only, but with ex- 
ecration. To sweep so foul a creed from the precincts 
of truth, and utterly to consume it, rhetoric should be- 
come a whirlwind, and logic fire. Indeed, I have never 
known a man who desired the establishment of mo- 
narchical and aristocratical institutions among us, who 
had not a mental reservation that, in such case, he and 
his family should belong to the privileged orders. 

" Still, if asked the broad question whether man is 
capable of self-government, I must answer it condition- 
ally. If by man, in the inquiry, is meant the Fejee Isl- 
anders ; or the convicts at Botany Bay ; or the people 
of Mexico and of some of the South American Repub- 
lics, so called ; or those as a class, in our own coun- 
try, who can neither read nor write ; or those who can 
read and write, and who possess talents and an educa- 
tion by force of which they get treasury, or post-office, 
or bank appointments, and then abscond with all the 
money they can steal, I answer unhesitatingly that 
man, or rather such men, are not fit for self-government. 

"But if, on the other hand, the inquiry be whether 
mankind are not endowed with those germs of intelli- 



NATIONAL EDUCATION. 353 

gence and those susceptibilities of goodness by which, 
under a perfectly practicable system of cultivation and 
training, they are able to avoid the evils of despotism 
and anarchy, and also of those frequent changes in 
national policy which are but one remove from an- 
archy, and to hold steadfastly on their way in an end- 
less career of improvement, then, in the full rapture of 
that joy and triumph which springs from a belief in the 
goodness oi God and the progressive happiness of man, 
I answer, they are able." 



PRACTICABILITY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION. 

The first duty of government, and the surest evidence of good gov- 
ernment, is the encouragement of educatiou. A general diffusion of 
knowledge is the precursor and protector of republican institutions ; 
and in it we must confide, as the conservative power that will watch 
our liberties, and guard against fraud, intrigue, corruption, and violence. 
— De Witt Clinton's Message to the Neio York Legislature, 1826. 

If good is to be done, we must bring our minds, as soon as possible, 
to the confession of the truth, that the education of the people, to be 
effectual, must here, as elsewhere, to a great extent, be the work of the 
state ; and that an expense, of which all should feel the necessity, and 
all will share the benefit, must, in a just proportion, be borne by all. — 
John Duer. 

The desirableness of national or universal education 
is now generally admitted in all enlightened commu- 
nities ; but there are some who, honestly no doubt, 
question its practicability. If they provide for the ed- 
ucation of their own children, they claim that they have 
done all that duty or interest requires them to do. 
They even aver that there is absolute injustice in com- 
pelling them to contribute toward the education of the 
children of others. Now these very persons, when 
called upon annually by the tax-gatherer to contribute 
their proportion for the support of paupers — made so 



354 POLITICAL NECESSITY OF 

by idleness, intemperance, and other vices, which, as 
we have already seen, result from ignorance — do so 
cheerfully and ungrudgingly, and without complaining 
that they support themselves and their families, and 
that neither duty nor interest requires them to aid in 
the maintenance of indigent persons in the community. 

The Poor Laws of our country, in the case of adults 
who are unable to support themselves, require merely 
their maintenance. But with reference to their chil- 
dren, more, from the very nature of the case, is need- 
ed. Their situation imperatively demands not only a 
sustenance, but an education that shall enable them in 
future years to provide for themselves. The same hu- 
mane reasons which lead civilized communities to pro- 
vide for the maintenance of indigent adults by legal 
enactments, bear even more strongly in the case of 
their children. These require sustenance in common 
with their parents. But their wants, their necessities, 
stop not here ; neither does the well-being of society 
with reference to them. Both alike require that such 
children, in common with all others, be so trained as to 
oe enabled not only to provide for themselves when 
they arrive at mature years, but as shall be necessary 
to qualify them for the discharge of the duties of citi- 
zenship. • Then, instead of taxing society for a support, 
as their parents now do, they will contribute to the ele- 
vation of all around, even more largely than society 
has contributed to their elevation. 

Let the necessary provision be made for the educa- 
tion of the children of the poor, in common with all 
others, and successive generations of the sons of men 
will steadily progress in knowledge and virtue, and in 
all that has a tendency to elevate and ennoble human 
kind. But let their education be neglected, and their 
rank in society will of necessity be lower, when com- 



NATIONAL EDUCATION. 355 

pared with the better educated and more favored 
classes, than it would have been only two or three cen- 
turies ago, even since the invention of the art of print- 
ing in 1440. The reasons are evident. Until after the 
invention of printing and.the multiplication of books, all 
ranks were, in relation to education, nearly upon a 
level. But, in the language of the adage, " Knowledge 
is power ;" and, since " knowledge has been increased," 
those who possess it are elevated, relatively and abso- 
lutely, while those who remain in the ignorance of 
former generations, although their absolute condition in 
the scale of being is unchanged, occupy, nevertheless, 
relatively, a lower place in society than they would 
have done had they lived in the midst of the Dark Ages. 
Wherever improved free schools have been main- 
tained, not only are the children of the poor in attend- 
ance upon them elevated in the scale of intellectual, 
social, and moral being, but, through their irresistible in- 
fluence, their degraded and besotted parents have been 
reformed and become law-abiding subjects, when all 
other means had failed to reach and influence them. 
Of the truth of this statement I am well persuaded from 
my own observation. I have also in my possession an 
abundance of unquestionable testimony to this effect, 
gathered in cities, towns, and villages which have be- 
come celebrated for the maintenance of a high order 
of public schools. The public, then, on many accounts, 
are more interested in the right education of poor chil- 
dren than in the preservation of their lives ! The lat- 
ter is carefully provided for. But if this only is done ; 
if their bodies are fed and clothed, without providing 
for the sustenance of their minds ; if we provide for 
their wants as helpless young animals merely, but 
neglect to provide for their necessities as spiritual and 
immortal beings, the probabilities are that such chil- 



356 POLITICAL NECESSITY OF 

dren will become a pest to society, while, in providing 
for their proper education, we are sure of making them 
good citizens, of constituting them a blessing to the 
world that now is, and of brightening their prospects 
for a blessed immortality in that which is to come. 

Bishop Butler, in a sermon preached in Christ Church, 
London, on charity schools, May 9th, 1745, recognizes 
the principle that the property of the state should edu- 
cate the children of the state. " Formerly," says he, 
"not only the education of poor children, but also their 
maintenance, with that of the other poor, were left to 
voluntary charities. But great changes of different 
sorts happening over the nation, and charity becoming 
more cold, or the poor more numerous, it was found 
necessary to make some legal provision for them. 
This might, much more properly than charity schools, 
be called a new scheme ;* for, without question, the 
education of poor children was all along taken care of 
by voluntary charities, more or less, but obliging us 
by law to maintain the poor was new in the reign of 
Queen Elizabeth. Yet, because a change of circum- 
stances made it necessary, its novelty was no reason 
against it. Now, in that legal provision for the main- 
tenance of the poor, poor children must doubtless have 
had a part in common with grown people. But this 
could never be sufficient for children, because their case 
always requires more than mere maintenance ; it re- 
quires that they be educated in some proper manner. 
Wherever there are poor who want to be maintained 
by charity, there must be poor children, who, besides 
this, want to be educated by charity ; and whenever 

* Bishop Butler is here ansvveiing the objections of some "people 
who speak of charity schools as a new-invented scheme, and therefore 
to be looked upon with suspicion •, whereas it is no otherwise new than 
as the occasion for it is so." 



NATIONAL EDUCATION. 357 

there began to be need of legal provision for the main- 
tenance of the poor, there must immediately have been 
need also of some particular legal provision in behalf 
of poor children for their education, this not being in- 
cluded in what we call their maintenance." 

Not only is it the duty of society to pro vide food for 
the minds as well as sustenance for the bodies of poor 
children, but their pecuniary interests equally require 
it ; for, as Butler remarks, " if they are not trained up 
in the way they should go, they will certainly be train- 
ed up in the way they should not go, and in all prob- 
ability will persevere in it, and become miserable them- 
selves and mischievous to society, which, in event, is 
worse, upon account of both, than if they had been ex- 
posed to perish in their infancy." 

I have already shown, by unquestionable testimony, 
that persons who possess the greatest share in the stock 
of worldly goods are deeply interested in the subject of 
popular education, as one of mere insurance ; " that the 
most effectual way of making insurance upon their 
property would be to contribute from it enough to sus- 
tain an efficient system of common school education, 
thereby educating the whole mass of mind, and consti- 
tuting it a police more effective than peace officers or 
prisons." I might elucidate this subject by illustrations. 

It has been estimated that a quarter of a million of 
dollars has been expended in the county of Philadel- 
phia since 1836 for the suppression of riots occurring 
within its limits, and in damages occasioned by their 
outrages and violence, to say nothing of personal inju- 
ries and deaths arising from the same cause. Now it 
will be readily conceded by most persons that half of 
this sum judiciously expended in organizing and sup- 
porting a sufficient police, and in giving the leaders and 
gangs engaged in those riots an early and suitable ed- 



358 POLITICAL NECESSITY OF 

ucation, whereby they would have been taught to think, 
and feel, and act as rational, moral, and accountable 
beings, would have prevented the commission of such 
crimes, together with the sufferings and losses resulting 
therefrom, and the reproach thus brought upon public 
and individual character, 

Again : The whole number of paupers relieved or 
supported by public charity in the single state of New 
York, in the year 1849, according to an authentic state- 
ment now before me, was, in round numbers, one hund- 
red thousand, and the entire expense of their support 
during the year w 7 as eight hundred and seven thou- 
sand dollars, a sum exceeding by three hundred and 
forty thousand dollars the amount, paid on rate-bills 
for teacher's wages for educating the seven hundred 
thousand children of that great state ! Of fifty thou- 
sand of these paupers, the causes of whose destitution 
have been ascertained, nearly twenty thousand are at- 
tributable, directly or indirectly, to intemperance, prof- 
ligacy, licentiousness, and crime ! Had even half the 
amount that is now expended from year to year in 
their support been judiciously bestowed upon their 
early mental and moral culture, who can question that, 
instead of now being a tax upon the communities in 
which they reside, and a burden to themselves and a 
grief to their friends, they w T ould not only have provid- 
ed for their own maintenance, but would have contrib- 
uted their due proportion to increase the general pros- 
perity of the state. 

Great as is her poor-tax, New York contributes an- 
nually an immensely greater sum for the support of 
her criminal police ; for the erection of court-houses, 
and jails, and penitentiaries, and houses of correction ; 
for the arrest, trial, conviction, and punishment of crim- 
inals, and for their support in prison and at the various 



NATIONAL EDUCATION. 359 

landing-places on their way to the gallows and to a 
premature and ignominious death. Now, had one half 
of the money which this state has expended in these 
two ways been judiciously bestowed in the early edu- 
cation of these unfortunate persons, who can question 
that the poor and criminal taxes of that state would 
have been reduced to less than one tenth of what they 
now are, to say nothing of the fountains of tears that 
would be thus dried up, and of the untold happiness that 
would be enjoyed by persons who, in every generation, 
lead cheerless lives and die ignoble deaths. 

Lest some persons may labor under an erroneous im- 
pression in relation to this subject, I will give the statis- 
tics of education and crime in New York, as derived 
from official reports, for the last few years. Of 1122 
persons — the whole number reported by the sheriffs of 
the different counties of the state as under conviction 
and punishment for crime during the year 1847 — 22 
only had a common education, 10 only had a tolerably 
good education, and only 6 were well educated. Of 
the 1345 criminals so returned in the several counties 
of the state for the year 1848, 23 only had a common 
school education, 13 only had a tolerably good educa- 
tion, and only 10 were considered well educated! The 
returns for other years give like results. Had the 
whole eleven or thirteen hundred of these convicts 
been well educated instead of only six or ten — and the 
moral and religious education of even these was de- 
fective — how many of them would society be called 
upon to support in prisons and penitentiaries? In all 
probability, as we shall hereafter, I hope, be able to show, 
not one. And what is true of the city and county of 
Philadelphia and of the State of New York, will apply 
to other cities, counties, and states of this Union. 

Once more, and finally: Education, as we have al- 



360 POLITICAL NECESSITY OP 

ready seen, enables men to subdue their passions, and 
to improve themselves in the exercise of all the social 
virtues. Especially have we seen that the educated 
portions of community, whose moral culture has been 
duly attended to, are habitually temperate, while the 
appetite of the uncultivated for intoxicating drinks is 
stronger, and their power of resistance less. Cut off 
from the sources of enjoyment which are ever open to 
those whose minds and hearts are cultivated, no won- 
der they seek for happiness in the gratification of ap- 
petite ! No wonder that forty thousand of the citizens 
of the United States annually die drunkards, when we 
consider that this is only one in twenty of the number 
who are unable to read and write ! 

The Hon. Edward Everett has expressed the opin- 
ion that the expenses of the manufacture and traffic of 
intoxicating drinks in the United States exceed an- 
nually one hundred and fifty millions of dollars. Gen- 
eral Cary, in alluding to this statement, says, "This, 
it is believed, is but an approximation to the cost of 
these trades to the people. This estimate does not in- 
clude the money paid by consumers, which is worse 
than thrown away. An English writer, well versed 
in statistics, and having access to the most reliable 
sources of information, says that ' the strong drinks 
consumed in England alone cost nearly four hundred 
millions of dollars annually.' The expenditure for 
these sources of all evil in the United States must be 
equal, at least, to that of England."* Now one half 
of this sum would maintain a system of common schools 
in every state of this Union equal in expense and efficien- 
cy to that of Massachusetts or New York. 

* See Tract on " The Liquor Manufacture and Traffic," prepared by- 
request of the National Division of the Sons of Temperance, by S. F. 
Caiy, Most Worthy Patriarch. 



NATIONAL EDUCATION. 361 

But I need not extend these observations. Enough, 
I trust, has been said to show that every thing connect- 
ed with the good of man and the welfare of the race 
depends upon the attention we bestow in perfecting 
our systems of public instruction and rendering their 
blessings universal. I will therefore close what I have 
to say upon this topic with a summary of the conclu- 
sions we have arrived at in the progress of the last 
two chapters. 

We have seen that a good system of common school 
education — one that is sufficiently comprehensive to em- 
brace all our country's youth in its benevolent design — ■ 
would free us as a people from a host of evils growing 
out of popular ignorance ; that it would increase the 
productiveness of labor, as the schools advance in ex- 
cellence, indefinitely ; that it would save to society, in 
diminishing the number of paupers and criminals, a 
vast amount of means absorbed in the support of the 
former, and in bringing the latter to justice, a tax which 
upon every present generation is more than sufficient 
for the education of the next succeeding one ; that it 
would prevent the great majority of fatal accidents 
that are now depopulating communities wherever ig- 
norance prevails ; that, by imparting a knowledge of 
the organic laws, the observance of which is essential 
to health and happiness, it would save the lives of a 
hundred thousand children in the United States every 
year, and that by promoting longevity, in connection 
with the advantages already enumerated, it would tend 
more than all other means of state policy to increase at 
once the wealth and the population of our country ; 
that its legitimate tendency would be to diminish, from 
generation to generation, not only drunkenness and 
sensuality in all its Protean forms, but idiocy and in- 
sanity, which result from a violation of the laws of our 

Q 



362 THE MEANS OF 

being, which are the laws of God ; that it would, in in- 
numerable ways, tend to diminish the sufferings and 
mitigate the woes incident to human life, while it would 
acquaint man with the will of the benevolent Creator, 
and lead him to cherish an habitual desire to yield obe- 
dience thereto ; and that it is the only possible means 
of perfecting and perpetuating the inestimable boon of 
civil and religious liberty to the latest generations, 
and thus securing to the race the maximum of human 
happiness. Yes, a system of popular education ade- 
quate to the requirements of the states of this Union 
will do all this. None, then, it would seem, can fail to 
see that true state policy requires the maintenance of 
improved free schools, good enough for the best, and 
cheap enough for the poorest, which are a necessary 
means of universal education. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE MEANS OF UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 

I would recommend that each state should raise a school fund suf- 
ficient for the entire support of the schools ; that a suitable school- 
house and apparatus, with a convenient dwelling-house for the teacher, 
be furnished by the state for each district; and that every school-house 
be supplied with a well-qualified teacher, who shall receive from the 
state a suitable compensation. — John Duer. 

Let there be an educational department of the government, and let 
its details be managed by proper officers, accountable to the representa- 
tives of the people. — Dr. Hawks. 

We have already considered the nature of education, 
which has reference to the whole man and to the whole 
duration of his being. We have seen its importance 
to individuals and families, to neighborhoods and com- 
munities, to states and nations, and that in proportion 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 363 

as it receives attention in any community, will that 
community become prosperous and happy. We may 
then very properly inquire after the means to be put in 
requisition in order to render the blessings of educa- 
tion universal among us. To the consideration of this 
subject we shall devote the remainder of this work. 
My first remark is, that 

A correct public opinion should be formed. In the 
language of Bishop Potter, "Our people have absolute- 
ly the control over the whole subject of education, not 
only as it respects their own families, but, to a great 
extent, in schools and seminaries of learning. If, then, 
the people were fully awake to its importance and true 
nature, we should soon have a perfect system, and we 
should witness results from it for which we now look 



in vain." 



The formation of a correct public opinion is of the 
utmost importance, for the primary cause of all the de- 
fects complained of in education, and the source of all 
the evils that afflict the community in consequence of 
its neglect, is popular indifference. From this we have 
more to fear than from all other causes combined. Op- 
position elicits discussion ; and discussion, judiciously 
conducted, evolves truth ; and educational truths brought 
clearly before the mind of any community will ulti- 
mately induce right action. Men may at first be in- 
fluenced by a comparatively low class of motives, but 
one which they can appreciate. As they witness the 
beneficial effects of reform, their motives will gradual- 
ly become more elevated, and their efforts at improve- 
ment more constant ; but no important advance can be 
made without popular enlightenment. 

When the majority of the individuals that compose 
any community come to value education as they ought ; 
when they duly estimate its importance in the various 



364 THE MEANS OF 

points of view already considered, then will their pub- 
lic servants take more pains to co-operate with them 
in rendering its blessings universal. Good laws are 
important as a means of improving our systems of pub- 
lic instruction ; but good laws, unsustained by a correct 
public opinion, will be of no avail. Before any con- 
siderable advance can be made either in improving 
our schools or in causing the attendance upon them to 
become more general, a good common education — one 
that shall give us sound minds in sound bodies; one that 
bestows much attention upon intellectual culture, but 
more upon the culture of the heart — must come to be 
ranked among the necessaries of life. 

Conventions of the friends of education have already 
done much to correct popular errors in relation to this 
subject, and have contributed largely to the formation 
of sound and rational views in relation to its import- 
ance in the communities where they have been held. 
In many instances, however, they have been composed 
too exclusively of teachers. These should, indeed, be 
in attendance ; but to increase the usefulness of such 
conventions, and heighten the effect they may be made 
to produce upon the popular mind, there should also be 
in attendance members of the several learned profes- 
sions, statesmen, capitalists, and all the leading minds 
of the communities in which they are held. In some 
portions of the country this is now the case, but such 
instances, I regret to say, are not yet very common 
among us. 

Fourth of July common school celebrations have, with- 
in the past few years, become quite common in several 
states of the Union. This seems peculiarly appropriate, 
being a practical recognition of the importance of pri- 
mary schools and universal education in a civil and 
political point of view. One of the most befitting cele- 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 365 

brations of this day which I have ever known was 
held in Boston eight years ago, when an oration was 
delivered before the authorities of that city by the Sec- 
retary of the Massachusetts Board of Education. The 
theme of the orator was the importance of national or 
universal education in a free government as the interest 
which underlies all others, and as constituting the only 
means of perfecting and perpetuating to the latest gen- 
erations the institutions we have received from our fa- 
thers, and " a demonstration that our existing means 
for the promotion of intelligence and virtue are wholly 
inadequate to the support of a repuhlican government." 
Such celebrations should be held in every state of this 
Union, at every recurring anniversary of our national 
independence, until there can not be found a single in- 
dividual in all our borders who does not know both 
his duties and his privileges as a freeman, and who has 
not virtue enough faithfully to perform the one and 
temperately to enjoy the other. This, indeed, seems 
to be in keeping with that most impressive passage of 
the celebrated Ordinance of the American Congress, 
adopted July 13th, 1787, which says, " Religion, 

MORALITY, AND KNOWLEDGE BEING NECESSARY TO GOOD 
GOVERNMENT AND THE HAPPINESS OF MANKIND, SCHOOLS 
AND THE MEANS OF EDUCATION SHALL FOREVER BE EN- 
COURAGED." 

The twenty-second of February has also been ob- 
served, to some extent, in several of the states, by hold- 
ing such celebrations. Nothing can be more appro- 
priate than these efforts to arouse the popular mind to 
renewed efforts to improve the common schools of the 
land, when we consider the import of that portion of 
the Farewell Address of him, the anniversary of whose 
birth we celebrate, which relates to popular education. 
" Promote, as an object of primary importance, institu- 



366 THE MEANS OF 

tions for the general diffusion of knowledge." There 
can be no doubt that Washington here refers to the 
maintenance and improvement of common schools as 
the means of universal education. 

The necessity of improving our common schools and 
of opening wide their doors to all our youth should not 
onlv be the theme at school celebrations, at educational 
conventions, and on the occasion of our national anni- 
versaries, but it shoulcf be frequently presented by the 
civilian and the divine, as well as by the legislator and 
the journalist, until men generally well understand the 
importance of education, and are willing to make any 
sacrifices that may be necessary to secure its advant- 
ages to their own children not only, but to all our youth. 

Provisions for the Support of Schools. — The pro- 
visions which have been made for the support of schools 
may be reduced to three kinds : first, by means of 
funds ; second, by taxation ; third, by a combination 
of both of these methods. 

Connecticut, which has a school fund of more than 
two millions of dollars, long ago adopted the first plan 
named. But the inefficiency of her system of public 
instruction, until within a few years, is proverbial, and 
affords conclusive evidence that a large school fund is 
of little or no avail in the absence of a correct public 
opinion and a due appreciation of the importance of 
education. The improvements in the schools of that 
state during the last few years are not in consequence 
of any increase in her school fund, but because the im- 
portance of the subject has been so frequently and im- 
pressively presented before the public mind, by means 
of lectures, public discussions, educational tracts, school 
journals, and in various other w T ays, as to overcome 
that popular indifference which had well-nigh precluded 
all advance. The late improvements in that state have 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 367 

fxken place in spite of the school fund rather than be- 
cause of any aid derived from it. Dr. Wayland has 
expressed the opinion that school " funds are valuable 
as a condiment, not as an aliment ; and that they should 
never be so large as to render any considerable degree 
of personal effort on the part of the parent unneces- 
sary." This is true only when a fund is so far relied 
upon as to slacken personal effort for the improvement 
of the schools, and to induce parental and popular in- 
difference in relation to them. 

The second plan is by taxation, and Massachusetts 
furnishes an example of it. In most of the counties of 
this state there are small local funds, the avails of which 
are added to the amount raised by tax for the support 
of schools. There are also still less amounts appropri- 
ated from the income of the surplus revenue for the 
purpose of increasing the educational advantages of 
the children ; not to be subtracted from, but to be add- 
ed to, what the towns would otherwise grant. We 
may, then, consider the school fund of this state as em- 
bracing the entire taxable property of the state, from 
which such a sum is annually raised by tax as is nec- 
essary for the support of the schools. In Vermont, 
New Hampshire, and Maine, the schools are support- 
ed essentially as in Massachusetts, the difference being 
chiefly in the mode of taxation. 

Dr. Wayland, in a letter written some years ago, 
makes the following remark in relation to the support 
of schools : " The best legislative provision with which 
I am acquainted is that of Maine. They have no fund 
whatever, but oblige every district to raise for educa- 
tion a sum proportioned to the number of its inhabit- 
ants or its property. If a town or a district neglects 
to do this, it is liable to a fine." 

In those states whose systems of public instruction 



368 THE MEANS OF 

are best administered — which have the best schools, 
and the greatest proportion of the population in attend- 
ance upon them — the schools are generally supported 
almost entirely by a direct tax, the great principle that 

THE PROPERTY OF THE STATE SHOULD EDUCATE THE CHIL- 
DREN of the state being practically recognized. It 
not only appears, then, that large funds are not required 
for the successful administration of systems of public 
instruction, but that actually the best schools, and those 
which are doing most for the correct education of the 
rising generation, may be found in those states that are 
destitute of funds, and whose public schools are sup- 
ported by a direct tax upon the property of the state. 
The third plan of supporting schools is a combina- 
tion of both of the others. New York until within the 
last year,* Rhode Island, and Michigan may be cited as 
examples of this plan. Where this plan has been adopt- 
ed, the districts or townships have generally been re- 
quired to raise by tax an amount equal to or greater 
than what has been received from the school fund. 
Where the expense of supporting the schools has ex- 
ceeded the whole fund derived from both sources, the 
balance of the expense has generally been made up by 
a rate-bill, parents who are able being required to pay 
in proportion to the number of days their children have 
attended school. This feature is objectionable even 
where provision is made for the children of poor pa- 
rents to attend without charge, for it offers a pecuniary 
inducement, although the schools be nearly free, to with- 
draw scholars from attendance upon them for the slight- 
est causes. This plan has obtained very generally in 
the states northwest of the Ohio River, which have re- 
ceived from the General Confederacy a grant of one 

* A year ago the schools of New York were made entirely free by 
law. See the foot-note on the 267th page of this work. 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 369 

section, or six hundred and jjprty acres of land in each 
township for the support of schools. In some of these 
states the additional tax is already sufficient, when join- 
ed w r ith the avails of the school fund, to render the 
schools entirely free. If one plan is superior to both 
of the others, this is, perhaps, entitled to the pre-emi- 
nence. The school fund lessens the amount which it 
is necessary to raise by a direct tax ; and still the sum 
which is levied in this way has a tendency to beget and 
maintain a lively interest on the part of capitalists in the 
administration of the educational department, and in the 
maintenance and improvement of the public schools. 

Without a correct public opinion and a due appreci- 
ation of the importance of education, either of the three 
systems named, or any other which may be adopted 
for the support of schools, will, and, from the very na- 
ture of the case, must, be inadequate to meet the neces- 
sities of a free people. But let the public be alive to 
the advantages of education, and rank it first among 
the necessaries of life, and almost any system will be 
attended with eminent success. If, then, one system 
is superior to all others, it is that which is best calcu- 
lated to beget in the popular mind a realizing sense of 
the necessity of educating all our youth in good schools. 
If this can be done in a state which has a large school 
fund, without diminishing the interest of the people in 
education, or relaxing their efforts to maintain improv- 
ed schools, then may such a fund prove serviceable, as 
it will lessen the general tax. But if the citizens of 
any state can not be brought to realize the importance 
of maintaining an elevated standard of common school 
education, and of rendering its blessings universal, with- 
out defraying the whole expense by a direct tax, then 
will a school fund prove to them a curse, and not a 
blessing. 

Q2 



370 THE MEANS OF 

Where there is a will tl^ere is a way, says the adage. 
Mr. Duer, as quoted at the head of this chapter, says, 
" I would recommend that each state should raise a 
fund sufficient for the entire support of the schools ; 
that a suitable school-house and apparatus, with a con- 
venient dwelling-house for the teacher, be furnished by 
the state for each district ; and that every school-house 
be supplied with a well-qualified teacher, who shall re- 
ceive from the state a suitable compensation." In this 
recommendation I fully concur. But with me it is im- 
material whether the state raises a separate fund, set 
apart exclusively for the purposes of education, or re- 
gards the entire taxable property of the commonwealth, 
personal and real, as a general fund from which there 
shall be drawn annually a sufficient per centage to pro- 
vide for universal education in free schools. This only 
do I insist upon, that the people be brought so fully to 
realize the advantages of a good common education as 
to place it high on the list of indispensables ; then will 
they provide for rendering its blessings universal. The 
mode of doing this in any one state may, in view of the 
peculiar circumstances of a people, be different from 
that which it would be most advantageous ordinarily 
to adopt. If there is no other sure way of meeting the 
expense of common schools, and of begetting and main- 
taining a deep and abiding interest in popular educa- 
tion, then let the property of the state be regarded as 
a common fund from which there shall be annually 
drawn a sum sufficient for the maintenance of improv- 
ed free schools, in which every child may receive a gen- 
erous education, as this is the interest first in import- 
ance to individuals and families, to neighborhoods and 
communities, to states and nations. 

The state should maintain an Educational Department. 
The magnitude of the interests involved renders this 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 371 

of the utmost importance. At the head of this depart- 
ment in every state there should be a minister of pub- 
lic instruction — whether he is called school superintend- 
ent, school commissioner, secretary of the board of 
education, or superintendent of public instruction — and 
he should be allowed time to make himself familiar 
with all the leading writers on the subject of education, 
in whatever age or language their works may have 
been written. Such an officer can not in any other 
way become qualified for the proper discharge of the 
duties which pertain to his profession. He should also 
be allowed time to acquaint himself with the current 
literature belonging to his department as it emanates 
from the press ; to examine new school-books, and new 
kinds of school apparatus which claim to possess ad- 
vantages, that he may be prepared to give to school 
teachers, school committee-men, and others whose op- 
portunities for examination and investigation are less 
sxtended, and many of whom must be inexperienced, 
such advice as shall enable them judiciously to expend 
their means for their personal improvement or the im- 
provement of their schools. He should likewise have 
time and opportunity to become so conversant with the 
practical operations of different school systems as to 
be qualified to give such suggestions in official reports 
as may be of service to the Legislature in perfecting 
their own, and to subordinate officers in its successful 
administration. All this would be necessary were we 
only to consult the pecuniary interests of the state in 
the judicious expenditure of the means which are an- 
nually devoted to the support of common schools. Of 
how much greater importance is it that there should be 
such an officer in every state, and that he should enjoy 
every possible means for increasing his usefulness, 
when we consider that the successful bestowment of 



372 THE MEANS OF 

his labors will contribute greatly to increase individual 
and social happiness, and the general prosperity of the 
state in all coming generations. 

In the further consideration of the means of render- 
ing the blessings of education universal, we shall intro- 
duce leading topics in the order in which they natu- 
rally suggest themselves. 



GOOD SCHOOL HOUSES SHOULD BE PROVIDED. 

A school ought to be a noble asylum, to which Children will come, 
and in which they will remain with pleasure ; to which their parents 
will send them with good will. — Cousin. 

If there is one house in the district more pleasantly located, more 
comfortably constructed, better warmed, more inviting in its general 
appearance, and. more elevating in its influence than any other, that 
house should be the school-house. — Michigan School Report, 1847. 

In considering the means of improving our schools, 
the place where our country's youth receive their first 
instruction, and where nineteen twentieths of them com- 
plete their scholastic training, claims early attention. 
It is, then, proper to consider the condition of this class 
of edifices, as they have almost universally been in 
every part of the United States until within a few 
years past, and as they now generally are out of those 
states in which public attention has of late been more 
especially directed to improvements in education ; for, 
before any people will attempt a reform in this partic- 
ular, they must see and feel the need of it. Even in 
the more favored states, comparatively few in number, 
the improvements in school architecture have been con- 
fined mostly to a few localities, and are far from being 
adequate to the necessities of the case. Did space 
allow, I would present statements made by school offi- 
cers in their reports from various states of the Union ; 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATrON. 373 

for, however wide the differences mav be in common 
usage, in other respects, there has heretofore been a 
striking sameness in the appearance of school-houses 
in every part of the country. 

Condition of School-houses. — In remarking upon 
the condition of this class of edifices, as they have here- 
tofore been constructed, and as they are now almost 
universally found wherever public sentiment has not 
been earnestly, perseveringly, and judiciously called to 
their improvement, I will present a few extracts from 
the official reports of Massachusetts and New York, 
where greater pains have been taken to ascertain ex- 
isting defects in schools, with a view to providing the 
necessary remedies, than in any other two states of this 
Union. 

School-houses in Massachusetts. — The Secretary of 
the Board of Education of this state, in his report for 
1846, remarks in reference to the condition of school- 
houses in the commonwealth as follows : " For years 
the condition of this class of edifices throughout the 
state, taken as a whole, had been growing worse and 
worse. Time and decay were always doing their 
work, while only here and there, with wide spaces be- 
tween, w T as any notice taken of their silent ravages ; 
and, in still fewer instances, were these ravages repair- 
ed. Hence, notwithstanding the improved condition of 
all other classes of buildings, general dilapidation was 
the fate of these. Industry, and the increasing pecu- 
niary ability w r hich it creates, had given comfort, neat- 
ness, and even elegance to private dwellings. Public 
spirit had erected commodious and costly churches. 
Counties, though largely taxed, had yet uncomplain- 
ingly paid for handsome and spacious court-houses and 
public offices. Humanity had been at work, and had 
made generous and noble provision for the pauper, the 



374 THE MEANS OF 

blind, the deaf and dumb, the insane. Even jails and 
houses of correction — the receptacles of felons and 
other offenders against the laws of God and man — had 
in many instances been transformed, by the more en- 
lightened spirit of the age, into comfortable and health- 
ful residences. The Genius of Architecture, as if she 
had made provision for all mankind, extended her shel- 
tering care over the brute creation. Better stables 
were provided for cattle ; better folds for sheep; and 
even the unclean beasts felt the improving hand of re- 
form. But, in the mean while, the school-houses, to 
which the children should have been wooed by every 
attraction, were suffered to go where age and the ele- 
ments would carry them. 

" In 1837, not one third of the public school-houses 
in Massachusetts would have been considered tenanta- 
ble by any decent family out of the poor-house or in 
it. As an inducement to neatness and decency, chil- 
dren were sent to a house whose walls and floors were 
indeed painted, but they were painted all too thickly 
by smoke and filth ; whose benches and doors were 
covered with carved work, but they were the gross 
and obscene carvings of impure hands ; whose vesti- 
bule, after the Oriental fashion, was converted into a 
veranda, but the metamorphosis which changed its 
architectural style consisted in laying it bare of its 
outer covering. The modesty and chastity of the 
sexes, at their tenderest age, were to be cultivated and 
cherished in places which oftentimes were as destitute 
of all suitable accommodation as a camp or a caravan. 
The brain was to be worked amid gases that stupefied 
it. The virtues of generosity and forbearance w r ere to 
be acquired where sharp discomfort and pain tempt 
each one to seize more than his own share of relief, and 
thus to - strengthen every selfish propensity. 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 375 

" At the time referred to, the school-houses in Massa- 
chusetts were an opprobrium to the state; and if there 
be any one who thinks this expression too strong, he 
may satisfy himself of its correctness by inspecting 
some of the few specimens of them which still remain. 

" The earliest effort at reform was directed to this 
class of buildings. By presenting the idea of taxation, 
this measure encountered the opposition of one of the 
strongest passions of the age. Not only the sordid and 
avaricious, but even those whose virtue of frugality, by 
the force of habit, had been imperceptibly sliding into 
the vice of parsimony, felt the alarm. Men of fortune 
without children, and men who had reared a family of 
children and borne the expenses of their education, 
fancied they saw something of injustice in being called 
to pay for the education of others, and too often their 
fancies started into specters of all imaginable oppres- 
sion and wrong. 

" During the five years immediately succeeding the 
report made by the Board of Education to the Legisla- 
ture on the subject of school-houses, the sums expend- 
ed for the erection and repair of this class of buildings 
fell but little short of seven hundred thousand dollars. 
Since that time, from the best information obtained, I 
suppose the sum expended on this one item to be about 
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars annually. Ev- 
ery year adds some new improvement to the construc- 
tion and arrangement of these edifices. 

" In regard to this great change in school-houses — 
it would hardly be too much to call it a revolution — the 
school committees have done an excellent work, or, 
rather, they have begun it ; it is not yet done. Their 
annual reports, read in open town meeting, or printed 
and circulated among the inhabitants, afterward em- 
bodied in the Abstracts and distributed to the members 



376 THE MEANS OF 

of the government, to all town and school committees, 
have enlightened and convinced the state." 

School-houses in New York. — About ten years ago, 
special visitors were appointed by the superintendent 
of common schools in each of the counties of this state, 
who were requested to visit and inspect the schools, 
and to report minutely in regard to their state and 
prospects. The most respectable citizens, without dis- 
tinction of party, were selected to discharge this duty; 
and the result of their labors is contained in two re- 
ports, made, the one in April, 1840, the other in Feb- 
ruary, 1841. " It may be remarked, generally," say 
the visitors of one of the oldest and most affluent towns 
of the southeastern section of the state, " that the school- 
houses are built in the old style, are too small to be 
convenient, and, with one exception, too near the pub- 
lic roads, having generally no other play-ground." — 
Report, 1840, p. 47. 

Say the visitors of another large and wealthy town 
in the central part of the state, "Out of twenty schools 
visited, ten of the school-houses were in bad repair, 
and many of them not worth repairing. In none were 
any means provided for the ventilation of the room. 
In many of the districts, the school-rooms are too small 
for the number of scholars. The location of the school- 
houses is generally pleasant. There are, however, but 
few instances where play-grounds are attached, and 
their condition as to privies is very bad. The arrange- 
ment of seats and desks is generally very bad, and in- 
convenient to both scholars and teachers ; most of them 
are without backs." — Report, 1840, p. 28. 

In another large and populous town in the north- 
western part of the state, it appears from the report of 
the visitors that only five out of twenty-two school- 
houses are respectable or comfortable ; none have any 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 377 

proper means of ventilation ; eight of them are built 
of logs, and but one of them has a privy. 

According to the report from another county, where 
the evils already enumerated exist, " There is, in gen- 
eral, too little attention to having good and dry wood 
provided, or* good supply of any ; or to have a wood- 
house or shelter to keep it from the storm." This neg- 
lect is very common. Another neglect, noticed by 
many of the visitors, is "the cold and comfortless state 
in which the children find the school-room, owing to the 
late hour at which the fire is first made in the morning." 

Three years later — and after the appointment of 
county superintendents in each of the counties of that 
state, who collected statistics with great care — the 
Hon. Samuel Young, then state superintendent, after 
making a minute statement of the number of school- 
houses constructed of stone, brick, wood, and logs ; of 
their condition as to repair; of the destitution of privies, 
suitable play-grounds, etc., remarked as follows : 

"But 544 out of 9368 houses visited contained more 
than one room ; 7313 were destitute of any suitable 
play-ground ; nearly 6000 were unfurnished with con- 
venient seats and desks ; nearly 8000 destitute of the 
proper facilities for ventilation ; and upward of 6000 
without a privy of any sort ; while, of the remainder, 
but about 1000 were provided with privies containing 
different apartments for male and female pupils ! And 
it is in these miserable abodes of accumulated dirt and 
filth, deprived of wholesome air, or exposed, without 
adequate protection, to the assaults of the elements ; 
with no facilities for necessary exercise or relaxation ; 
no convenience for prosecuting their studies ; crowd- 
ed together on benches not admitting of a moment's 
rest in any position, and debarred the possibility of 
yielding to the ordinary calls of nature without violent 



378 THE MEANS OF 

inroads upon modesty and shame, that upward of two 
hundred thousand, children, scattered over various parts 
of the state, are compelled to spend an average period 
of eight months during each year of their pupilage ! 
Here the first lessons of human life, the incipient prin- 
ciples of morality, and the rules of social intercourse 
are to be impressed upon the plastic mind. The boy 
is here to receive the model of his permanent charac- 
ter, and to imbibe the elements of his future career; 
and here the instinctive delicacy of the young female, 
one of the characteristic ornaments of the sex, is to be 
expanded into maturity by precept and example ! Is it 
strange, under such circumstances, that an early and 
invincible repugnance to the acquisition of knowledge 
is imbibed by the youthful mind ? that the school-house 
is regarded with unconcealed aversion and disgust, 
and that parents who have any desire to preserve the 
health and the morals of their children exclude them 
from the district school, and provide instruction for 
them elsewhere?" 

A volume might be filled with similar testimony ; 
but one more quotation from another state must suffice. 
After noticing the common evils already referred to, 
the superintendent remarks as follows :* " But this 
notice of ordinary deficiencies does not cover the whole 
ground of error in regard to the situation of school- 
houses. In some cases they are brought into close con- 
nection with positive nuisances. In a case which has 
fallen under the superintendent's own personal observa- 
tion, one side of the school-house forms part of the 
fence of a hog-yard, into which, during the summer, 
the calves of an extensive dairy establishment have 

* First Annual Report of the State Superintendent (Hon. Horace 
Eaton^of Common Schools, made to the Legislature of Vermont, Oc- 
tober, 1846. 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 379 

been thrown from time to time (disgusting and revolt- 
ing spectacle !), to be rent and devoured before the eyes 
of teacher and pupils, except such portions of the mu- 
tilated and mangled carcasses as were left by the ani- 
mals to go to decay, as they lay exposed to the sun 
and storm. It is true, the windows on the side of the 
building adjoining the yard were generally observed 
to be closed, in order to shut out the almost insupport- 
able stench which arose from the decomposing remains. 
But this closure of the windows could, in no great de- 
gree, * abate the nuisance ;' for not a breath of air could 
enter the house from any direction but it must come 
saturated with the disgusting and sickening odor that 
loaded the atmosphere around. It needs no profes- 
sional learning to tell the deleterious influence upon 
health which must be exerted by such an agency, 
operating for continuous hours." 

If such evils as have been considered have existed 
so generally, and still prevail to an alarming extent, 
even in the states where education has received the 
most attention, what need must there be for the dissem- 
ination of information on this vitally important subject, 
especially in those states where education has hereto- 
fore received less attention ! In remarking further 
upon this subject, I shall consider several leading par- 
ticulars in the order they naturally suggest themselves. 
1 will, then, commence with the 

Location of School-houses. — In comparatively few 
instances school-houses are favorably located, being 
situated on dry, hard ground, in a retired though cen- 
tral part of the district, in the midst of a natural or arti- 
ficial grove. But they are almost universally badly 
located ; exposed to the noise, dust, and danger of the 
highway; unattractive, if not absolutely repulsive in 
their external appearance, and built at the least pos- 



380 THE MEANS OF 

sible expense of material and labor. They are gener 
ally on one corner of public roads, and sometimes ad 
jacent lo a cooper's shop, or between a blacksmith's 
shop and a saw-mill. They are not unfrequently 
placed on an acute angle, where a road forks, and some- 
times in turning that angle, the travel is chiefly behind 
the school-house, leaving it on a small triangle bounded 
on all sides by public roads. 

Occasionally the school-house is situated on a low 
and worthless piece of ground, with a sluggish stream 
of water in its vicinity, which sometimes even passes 
under the house. The comfort, and health even, of 
children are thus sacrificed to the parsimony of their 
parents. Scholars very generally step from the school- 
house directly into the highway. Indeed, school-houses 
are frequently situated one half in the highway and the 
other half in the adjacent field, as though they were 
unfit for either. This is the case even in some of the 
principal villages of all the states I have ever visited, 
or from which I have read full reports on the subject. 

Strange as it may seem, school-houses are sometimes 
situated in the middle of the highway, a portion of the 
travel being on each side of them. When the scholars 
are engaged in their recreations, they are exposed to 
bleak winds and the inclemency of the weather one 
portion of the year, and to the scorching rays of the 
meridian sun another portion. Moreover, their recrea- 
tions must be conducted in the street, or they trespass 
upon their neighbors' premises. We pursue a very 
different policy in locating a church, a court-house, or 
a dwelling ; and should we not pursue an equally 
wise and liberal policy in locating the distinct school- 
house ? 

In the states generally northw r est of the River Ohio, 
six hundred and forty acres of land in every township 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 381 

are appropriated to the support of common schools. 
Suppose there are ten school districts in a township, 
this would allow sixty-four acres to every district. It 
would seem that when the general government has ap- 
propriated sixty-four acres to create a fund for the en- 
couragement of the schools of a township, that each 
district might set apart one acre as a site for a school- 
house. Once more : school districts usually contain 
not less than twenty-five hundred acres of land. Is it, 
then, asking too much to set apart one acre as a site for 
a school-house, in which the minds of the children of 
the district shall be cultivated, when twenty-four hund- 
red and ninety-nine acres are appropriated to feeding 
and clothing their bodies ? 

I would respectfully suggest, and even urge the pro- 
priety of locating the school-house on a piece of firm 
ground of liberal dimensions, and of inclosing the same 
with a suitable fence. The location should be dry, 
quiet, and pleasant, and in every respect healthy. The 
vicinity of places of idle and dissipated resort should 
by all means be avoided ; and, if possible, the site of the 
school-house should overlook a delightful country, and 
be surrounded by picturesque scenery. The school 
yard, at least, should be inclosed not only, but set out 
with shade trees, unless provided with those of Nature's 
own planting. It should also be ornamented with beau- 
tiful shrubbery, and be made the park of the neighbor- 
hood — the pleasantest place for resort within the bound- 
aries of the district. This would contribute largely to 
the formation of a correct taste on the part of both 
children and parents. It would also tend to the form- 
ation of virtuous habits and the cultivation of self-re- 
spect ; for the scholars would then enjoy their pastime 
in a pleasant and healthful yard, where they have a 
right to be, and need no longer be hunted as tresj)assers 



382 THE MEANS OF 

upon their neighbors' premises, as they now too fre- 
quently are. 

Size and Construction. — In treating upon the phi- 
losophy of respiration at the 92d page of this work, it 
was stated that, exclusive of entry and closets, where 
they are furnished with these appendages, school-houses 
are not usually larger than twenty by twenty-four feet 
on the ground, and seven feet in height. The average 
attendance in houses of these dimensions was esti- 
mated at forty-five scholars in the winter. It was also 
stated that the medium quantity of air that enters the 
lungs at each inspiration is thirty-six cubic inches, and 
that respiration is repeated once in three seconds, or 
twenty times a minute. Now, to say nothing of the in- 
convenience which so many persons must experience 
in occupying a house of so narrow dimensions, and 
making no allowance for the space taken up by desks, 
furniture, and the scholars themselves, a simple arith- 
metical computation will show any one that such a 
room will not contain a sufficient amount of air for the 
support of life three hours. But I will here simply re- 
fer the reader to the fourth chapter of this work, and 
will not repeat what was there said. 

In determining the size of school- houses, due regard 
should be had to several particulars. There should be 
a separate entry or lobby for each sex, which Mr. 
Barnard, in his School Architecture,* very justly says 
should be furnished with a scraper, mat, hooks or 

* "School Architecture," or Contributions to the Improvement of 
School-houses in the United States, by Henry Barnard, Commissioner 
of Public Schools in Rhode Island, p. 383. This excellent treatise em- 
bodies a mass of most valuable information in relation to school-houses 
and apparatus. It contains the plans of a great number of the best 
school-houses in various portions of the United States, and should be 
consulted by every committee before determining upon a plan for the 
construction of a valuable school-house. 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 383 

shelves — both are needed — sink, basin, and towels. A 
separate entry thus furnished will prevent much con- 
fusion, rudeness, and impropriety, and promote the 
health, refinement, and orderly habits of the children. 

The principal room of the school-house, and each 
such room where there are several departments, should 
be large enough to allow each occupant a suitable 
quantity of pure air, which should be at least twice the 
common amount, or not less than one hundred and fifty 
cubic feet. There should also be one or more rooms 
for recitation, apparatus, library, etc., according to the 
size of the school and the number of scholars to be ac- 
commodated. 

Every school-room should be so constructed that 
each scholar may pass to and from his seat without 
disturbing or in the least incommoding any other one. 
A house thus arranged will enable the teacher to pass 
at all times to any part of the room, and to approach 
each scholar in his seat whenever it may be desirable 
to do so for purposes of instruction or otherwise. Such 
an arrangement is of the utmost importance; and with- 
out the fulfillment of this condition, no teacher can most 
advantageously superintend the affairs of a whole 
school, and especially of a large one. 

In determining the details of construction and ar- 
rangement for a school-house, due regard must be had 
to the varying circumstances of country and city, as 
well as to the number of scholars that may be expect- 
ed in attendance, the number of teachers to be employ- 
ed, and the different grades of schools that may be 
established in a community. 

Country Districts. — In country districts, as they 
have long been situated, and still generally are, aside 
from separate entries and clothes-rooms for the sexes, 
there will only be needed one principal school-room, 



384 THE MEANS OF 

with a smaller room for recitations, apparatus, and 
other purposes. In arranging and fitting up this room, 
reference must be had to the requirements of the dis- 
trict ; for this one room is to be occupied by children 
of all ages, for summer and winter schools, and for the 
secular, but more especially for the religious meetings 
of the neighborhood. But in its construction primary 
reference should be had to the convenience of the 
scholars in school, for it will be used by them more, 
ten to one, than for all other purposes. Every child, 
then, even the youngest in school, should be furnished 
with a seat and desk, at which he may sit with ease 
and comfort. The seats should each be furnished with 
a back, and their height should be such as to allow the 
children to rest their feet comfortably upon the floor. 
The necessity of this will be apparent by referring to 
what has been said on the laws of health in the third 
chapter of this work, at the 68th and following pages. 
No one, then, can fail to see the advantages that 
would result to a densely-settled community from a 
union of two or more districts for the purpose of main- 
taining in each a school for the younger children, and 
of establishing in the central part of the associated dis- 
tricts a school of a higher grade for the older and 
more advanced children of all the districts thus united. 
If four districts should be united in 
this way, they might erect a central 
house, C, for the larger and more 
advanced scholars, and four smaller 
ones, p p p p, for the younger chil- 
dren. The central school might be 
taught by a male teacher, with fe- 
male assistants, if needed ; but the primary schools, 
with this arrangement, could be more economically and 
successfully instructed by females. In several of the 



p 


p 


V 


1 
p 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 385 

states legal provisions are already made for such a con- 
solidation of districts. This would invite a more per- 
fect classification of scholars, and would allow the cen- 
tral school-house to be so constructed, and to have the 
seats and desks of such a height as to be convenient for 
the larger grade of scholars, and still be comfortable 
for other purposes for which it might occasionally be 
necessary to occupy it. Such an arrangement, while 
it would obviate the almost insuperable difficulties 
which stand in the way of proper classification and the 
thorough government and instruction of schools, would 
at the same time offer greater inducements to the erec- 
tion of more comfortable and attractive school-houses. 
Cities and Villages. — The plan suggested in the 
last paragraph may be perfected in cities and villages. 
For this purpose, where neither the distance nor the 
number of scholars is too great, some prefer to have all 
the schools of a district or corporation conducted un- 
der the same roof. However this may be, as there 
will be other places for public meetings of various 
kinds, each room should be appropriated to a particu- 
lar department, and be fitted up exclusively for the ac- 
commodation of the grade of scholars that are to occu- 
py it. In cities, and even in villages with a population 
of three or four thousand, it is desirable to establish at 
least three grades of schools, viz., first, the primary, for 
the smallest children ; second, the intermediate, for 
those more advanced ; and, third, a central high school, 
for scholars that have passed through the primary and 
intermediate schools. While this arrangement is favor- 
able to the better classification of the scholars of a vil- 
lage or city, and holds out an inducement to those of 
the lowest and middle grade of schools to perfect them- 
selves in the various branches of study that are pur- 
sued in them respectively as the condition upon which 

R 



386 THE MEANS OF 

they are permitted to enter a higher grade, it also al- 
lows a more perfect adjustment of the seats and desks 
to the various requirements of the children in their pas- 
sage through the grade of schools. 

New York Free Academy. — In the public schools 
of the city of New York, two hundred in number, six 
hundred teachers are employed, and one hundred thou- 
sand children annually receive instruction. The Free 
Academy, which is a public school of the highest grade, 
and which is represented in our frontispiece, was estab- 
lished by the Board of Education in 1847. The ex- 
pense of the building, without the furniture, was $46,000, 
and the annual expense for the salaries of professors 
and teachers is about 810,000. Out of twenty-four 
thousand votes cast, twenty thousand were for the es- 
tablishment of this institution, in which essentially a 
complete collegiate education may be obtained. No 
students are admitted to it who have not attended the 
public schools of the city for at least one full year, nor 
these until they have undergone a thorough examina- 
tion and proved themselves worthy. Its influence is 
not confined to the one hundred or one hundred and 
fifty scholars who may graduate from it annually, but 
reaches and stimulates the six hundred teachers, and 
the hundred thousand children whom they instruct, and 
thus elevates the common schools of the city in reality 
not only, but places them much more favorably before 
the public than they otherwise could be. 

Smaller cities, and especially villages with a popu- 
lation of but a few thousand, can not, of course, main- 
tain so extended a system of public schools ; but they 
can accomplish essentially the same thing more per- 
fectly, though on a smaller scale. For the benefit of 
districts in the country and in villages, I will here in- 
sert a few plans of school-houses. 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 



387 



Plan of a School-house for fifty-six Scholars. 




W 



B 



»IIHWHm>'<IIIIW"ll1 
C V 



T 















































ET 






























& 








ja: 



b: 



jk: 









s 






w 





D 



£ 



Site, 30 by 40 feet. 



T 

n 







s; 









w 



Jl 



w 



D 



E 



D 



Scale, 10 feet to the inch. 



D D, doors. E E, entries lighted over outer doors, one for the boys 
and the other for the girls. T, teacher's platform and desk. R L, room 
for recitation, library, and apparatus, which may be entered by a single 
door, as represented in the plan, or by two, as in the following plan. 
S S, stoves with air-tubes beneath. K K, aisles four feet wide — the 
remaining aisles are each two feet wide, c v, chimneys and ventila- 
tors. 1 1, recitatiou seats. B B, black-board, made by giving the wall 
a colored hard finish. G H, seats and desks, four feet in length, con- 
structed as represented on the next page. The seat and desk may be 
made together, and instead of being fastened permanently to the floor, 
attached in front by a strap hinge, which will admit of their being 
turned forward while sweeping under and behind them. 



388 



PLAN FOR A GRADED SCHOOL. 



Primary and Intermediate Department, on first floor. 

II l l — I ll I I I Mil II 111 !■— 



TW-nacgiSBija 




w 



D 



Q 



B 



D 







l- D -T 
































H 




G 



s;:: 



J) -I- J) 



Size, 36 by 54 feet 



C 



., ™ ■■■■! 



Scale, 12 feet to the inch. 



. A, entrance for boys to the High School. C, entrance for girls to High 
School. P, entrance for boys to the Primary and Intermediate Depart- 
ments. Q, entrance for girls to the same. D D, doors. W W, win- 
dows. T, teacher's platform and desk. G H, desk and seat for two 
scholars, a section of which is represented at X, in the Primary De- 
partment. 1 1, recitation seats. B B, black-boards. S S, stoves, with 
ah'-tubes beneath, c v, chimney and ventilator. R, room for recitation 
library, apparatus, and other purposes. 



PLAN FOR A GRADED SCHOOL. 



389 



High School, or Third Department, on second floor. 




A, entrance for the boys, through the entry below. C, entrance for 
the girls. G H, desk and seat : aisles from two to three feet wide. 
D D, doors. W W, windows S S. stoves, cv, chimney and ventila- 
tor. T, teacher's platform. R, recitation-room. 1 1, recitation seats 
in principal room. B B, black-board: as a substitute for the common 
painted board, a portion of the wall, covered with hard finish, may be 
painted black ; or, what is better, the hard finish itself may be colored 
before it is put on. by mixing with it lamp-black, wet up with alcohol 
or sour beer. 



390 THE MEANS OF 

Ventilation of School-houses. — We have already 
seen that in a school-room occupied by forty-five per- 
sons, thirty-two thousand four hundred cubic inches of 
air impart their entire vitality to support animal life the 
first minute, and, mingling with the atmosphere of the 
room, proportionally deteriorate the whole mass ; that 
the air of crowded school-rooms thus soon becomes en- 
tirely unfit for respiration, and that, as the necessary 
result, the health of both teacher and scholars is en- 
dangered ; that the scholars gradually lose both the 
desire and the ability to study, and become more in- 
clined to be disorderly, while the teacher becomes con- 
tinually more unfit either to teach or govern. Hence 
the necessity of frequent and thorough ventilation. 

The ordinary facilities for ventilating school-rooms 
consist in opening a door and raising the lower sash 
of the windows. The only ventilation which has been 
practiced in the great majority of schools has been en- 
tirely accidental, and has consisted in opening and clos- 
ing the outer door as the scholars enter and pass out 
of the school-house, before school, during the recesses, 
and at noon. Ventilation, as such, I may safely say, 
has not, until within a few years, been practiced in one 
school in fifty ; nor is it at the present time in many 
parts of the country. It is true, the door has at times, 
been set open a few minutes, and the windows have 
been occasionally raised, but the object has been either 
to let the smoke pass out of the room, or to cool it when 
it has become too warm, not to ventilate it. 

Ventilation by opening a door or raising the win- 
dows is imperfect, and frequently injurious. A more 
effectual and safer method of ventilation consists in 
lowering the upper sash of the window. In very cold 
or stormy weather, a ventilator in the ceiling may be 
opened, so as to allow the vitiated air to escape into 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 391 

the attic, in which case there should be a free commu- 
nication between the attic and the outer air by means 
of a lattice in the gable, or otherwise. A ventilator 
may also be constructed in connection with the chim- 
ney, by carrying up a partition in the middle, one half 
of the chimney being used for a smoke flue, and the 
other half for a ventilator. 

But it is often asked, Why is it not just as well to 
raise the lower sash of the windows as to lower the 
upper one ? In reply I would say, first, lowering the 
upper sash is a more effectual method of ventilation. 
In a room which is warmed and occupied in cold 
weather, the warmer and more vitiated portions of the 
air rise to the upper part of the room, while that which 
is colder and purer descends. The reason for this may 
not be readily conceived, especially when we consider 
that carbonic acid, the vitiating product of respiration, 
is specifically heavier than common air. Three con- 
siderations, however, will make it apparent. 1. Gases 
of different specific gravity mix uniformly, under favor- 
able circumstances. 2. The carbonic acid which is 
exhaled from the lungs at about blood heat is hence 
rarefied, and specifically lighter than the air in the 
room, w 7 hich inclines it to ascend. 3. The ingress of 
cold and heavier air from without is chiefly through 
apertures near the base of the room. Raising the 
lower sash of the windows allows a portion of the 
purer air of the room to pass off, while the more vitia- 
ted air above is retained. Lowering the upper sash 
allows the impure air above to escape, while the purer 
air below remains unchanged. 

Lowering the upper sash is also the safer method of 
ventilation. It not only allows the impure air more 
readily to escape, but provides also for the more uni- 
form diffusion of the pure air from without, which takes 



392 THE MEANS OF 

its place through the upper part of the room. The 
renovated air will gradually settle upon the heads of 
the scholars, giving them a purer air to breathe, while 
the comfort of the body and lower extremities will re- 
main undisturbed. This is as it should be ; for warm 
feet and cool heads contribute alike to physical comfort 
and clearness of mind. Raising the lower sash of the 
windows endangers the health of scholars, exposing 
those who sit near them to colds, catarrhs, etc. Indeed, 
when it is very cold or stormy, it is unsafe to ventilate 
by lowering the upper sash of the windows. At such 
times, provision should be made for the escape of im- 
pure air at the upper part of the room, and for the in- 
troduction of pure air at the lower part, as will be 
shown while treating upon the means of warming. 

Means, of Warming. — Next in importance to pure 
air in a school-room is the maintenance of an even 
temperature. This is an indispensable condition of 
health, comfort, and successful labor. It is one, how- 
ever, that is very generally disregarded ; or, perhaps I 
should say, one that^ is not often enjoyed. School- 
houses are generally warmed by means of stoves, some 
of which are in a good condition, and supplied with 
dry, seasoned wood. The instances, however, in which 
such facilities for warming exist, are comparatively few. 
It is much more common to see cracked and broken 
stoves, the doors without either hinges or latch, with 
rusty pipe of various sizes. Green wood, also, and that 
which is old and partially decayed, either drenched 
with rain or covered with snow during inclement 
weather, is much more frequently used for fuel than 
sound, seasoned wood, protected from the weather by 
a suitable wood-house. With this state of things, it is 
exceedingly difficult to kindle a fire, which burns poorly, 
at best, when built. Fires, moreover, are frequently 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 393 

built so late, that the house does not become comfortably 
warm at the time appointed for commencing school. 
These neglects are the fruitful source of much discom- 
fort and disorder. The temperature is fluctuating ; the 
room is filled with smoke a considerable part of the 
time, especially in stormy weather; and the school is 
liable to frequent interruptions, in fastening together 
and tying up stove-pipe, etc., etc. 

This may seem a little like exaggeration. I know 
full well there are many noble exceptions. But in a 
large majority of instances some of these inconven- 
iences exist ; and the most of them coexist much more 
frequently than persons generally are aware of. I 
speak from the personal observation of several thou- 
sand schools in different states, and from reliable in- 
formation in relation to the subject from various por- 
tions of the country. I have myself many times heard 
trustees and patrons, who have visited their school with 
me for the first time in several years, say, "We ought 
to have some dry wood to kindle with ; I didn't know 
as it was so smoky : we must get some new pipe ; real- 
ly, our stove is getting dangerous," etc. And some of 
the boys have relieved the embarrassment of their pa- 
rents by saying, " It don't smoke near so bad to-day as 
it does sometimes !" 

The principal reason why the stoves in our school- 
houses are so cracked and broken, and why the pipes 
are so rusty and open, lies in the circumstance that 
green wood, or that which is partially decayed and 
saturated with moisture, is used for fuel, instead of 
good seasoned wood, protected from the inclemency 
of the weather by a suitable wood-house. There are 
at least three reasons why this is poor policy. 1. It 
takes double the amount of wood. A considerable por- 
tion of the otherwise sensible heat becomes latent, in 

R2 



394 THE MEANS OF 

the conversion of ice, snow, and moisture into steam. 
2. The steam thus generated cracks the stove and rusts 
the pipe, so that they will not last one half as long as 
though dry wood from a wood-house were used. 3. It 
is impossible to preserve an even temperature. Some- 
times it is too cold, and at other times it is too warm ; 
and this, with such means of warming, is unavoidable. 
Scores of teachers have informed me that, in order to 
keep their fires from going out, it was necessary to 
have their stoves constantly full of wood, and even to 
lay wood upon the stove, that a portion of it might be 
seasoning while the rest was burning. Aside from the 
inconvenience of a fluctuating temperature, this is an 
unseemly and filthy practice, and one that generates 
very offensive and injurious gases. 

Again : I have frequently heard the following and 
similar remarks : " The use of stoves in our school- 
houses is a great evil ;" " Stoves are unhealthy in our 
school-houses, or in any other houses," etc. This idea 
being somewhat prevalent, and stoves being generally 
used in our school-houses, their influence upon health 
becomes a proper subject for consideration. 

Combustion, whether in a stove or fire-place, con- 
sists in a chemical union of the oxygen gas of the at- 
mosphere with carbon, the combustible part of the wood 
or coal used for fuel. Carbonic acid, the vitiating prod- 
uct of combustion, does not, however, ordinarily dete- 
riorate the atmosphere of the room, but, mingling with 
the smoke, escapes through the stove-pipe or chimney. 

The stove, in point of economy, is far superior to the 
open fire-place as ordinarily constructed. When the 
latter is used, it has been estimated that nine tenths of 
the heat evolved ascends the chimney, and only one 
tenth, or, according to Rum ford and Franklin, only one 
fifteenth, is radiated from the front of the fire into the 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 395 

room. Four-fold more fuel is required to warm a room 
by a fire-place than when a stove is used. Oxygen is, 
of course, consumed in a like proportion, and hence, 
when the open fire-place is used, there is necessarily a 
four-fold greater ingress of cold air to supply combus- 
tion than where a stove is employed. 

And, what is of still greater importance, when a fire- 
place is used, it is impossible to preserve so uniform a 
temperature throughout the room as when a stove is 
employed. When a fire-place is used, the cold air is 
constantly rushing through every crevice at one end 
of the room to supply combustion at the other end. 
Hence the scholars in one part of the room suffer from 
cold, while those in the opposite part are oppressed 
with heat. The stove may be set in a central part of 
the room, whence the heat will radiate, not in one di- 
rection merely, but in all directions. In addition to 
this, as we have already seen, only one fourth as much 
air is required to sustain combustion, on both of which 
accounts a much more even and uniform temperature 
can be maintained throughout a room where a stove is 
used than where a fire-place is employed. 

But whence, then, has arisen the prevailing opinion 
that stoves are unhealthy ? There are two sources of 
mischief, either of which furnishes a sufficient founda- 
tion for this popular fallacy. The first has already 
been referred to, and consists simply in the almost total 
neglect of proper ventilation. The other lies in the 
circumstance that school-rooms are generally kept too 
warm. In addition to the inconvenience of too high a 
temperature, the aqueous vapor existing in the atmos- 
phere in its natural and healthful state is dispersed, and 
the air of the room becomes too dry. The evil being 
seen, the remedy is apparent. Reduce the temperature 
of the room to its proper point, and supply the defi- 



396 THE MEANS OF 

ciency of aqueous vapor by an evaporating dish par- 
tially filled with pure water. If this is not done, the 
dry and over-heated air, which is highly absorbent of 
moisture in every thing with which it comes in contact, 
not only creates a disagreeable sensation of dryness on 
the surface of the body, but in passing over the delicate 
membrane of the throat, creates a tickling, induces a 
cough, and lays the foundation for pulmonary disease, 
especially when ventilation is neglected. The water 
in the evaporating dish should be frequently changed, 
and kept free from dirt and other impurities. Care 
also should be taken not to create more moisture than 
the air naturally contains, otherwise the effect will be 
positively injurious. 

The evil complained of is attributable mainly to the 
maintenance of a too high temperature. Were a ther- 
mometer placed in many of our school-rooms — and a 
school-house should never be without one in every oc- 
cupied apartment — instead of indicating a suitable tem- 
perature, say sixty-two or sixty-five degrees, or even a 
summer temperature, it would not unfrequently rise 
above blood heat. The system is thus not only enfee- 
bled and deranged by breathing an infectious atmos- 
phere, but the debility thence arising is considerably 
increased in consequence of too high a temperature. 
The two causes combined eminently predispose the 
system to disease. The change from inhaling a fluid 
poison at blood heat, to inhaling the purer air without 
at the freezing point or below, is greater than the sys- 
tem can bear with impunity. 

A uniform temperature, which is highly important, 
can be more easily and more effectually maintained 
where a stove is employed, furnished with a damper, 
and supplied with dry, hard wood, than where a fire- 
place is used. In the former case the draft may be 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 397 

regulated, in the latter it can not be. A great amount 
of air enters into combustion even where a stove is 
used. A greater quantity enters into the combustion 
where a fire-place is used, in proportion to the in- 
creased amount of wood consumed. Much of the 
heated air, also, where an open fire-place is used, min- 
gling with the smoke, passes off through the chimney, 
and its place is supplied by a*n ingress of cold air at 
the more distant portions of the room. There is hence 
not only a great waste of fuel, but a sacrifice of com- 
fort, health, and life. 

But even where a stove is used there is a constant 
ingress of cold air through cracks and defects in the 
floor, doors, windows, and walls, which causes it to be 
colder in the outer portions of the room than in the 
central portions and about the stove. The evil is the 
same in kind as that already referred to in speaking 
of fire-places, but less in degree. This evil, however, 
may be almost entirely obviated by a very simple ar- 
rangement, which will also do much to render ventila- 
tion at once more effectual and safe, especially in very 
cold and inclement weather. The arrangement is as 
follows : 

Immediately beneath the floor — and in case the 
school-house is two stories high, between the ceiling 
and the floor above — insert a tube from four to six 
inches in diameter, according to the size of the rooms, 
the outer end communicating with the external air by 
means of an orifice in the under-pinning or wall of the 
house, and the other, by means of an angle, passing up- 
ward through the floor beneath the stove. This part 
of the tube should be furnished with a register, so as 
to admit much or little air, as may be desirable. This 
simple arrangement will reverse the ordinary currents 
of air in a school-room. The cold air, instead of enter- 



398 THE MEANS OF 

ing at the crevices in the outer part of the room, where 
it is coldest, enters directly beneath the stove, where 
it is warmest. It thus moderates the heat immediately 
about the stove, and being warmed as it enters, and 
mingling with the heated air, establishes currents to- 
ward the walls, and gradually finds its way out at the 
numerous crevices through which the cold air previous- 
ly entered. If these are not sufficient for the purpose, 
several ventilators should be provided in distant parts 
of the room, as already suggested. This simple ar- 
rangement, then, provides for the more even dissem- 
ination of heat through all parts of the room, and thus 
secures a more uniform temperature, and, at the same 
time, provides a purer air for respiration, contributes 
greatly to the comfort and health of the scholars, and 
fulfills several important conditions which are essential 
to the most successful prosecution of their studies, and 
to the maintenance and improvement of social and 
moral, as well as intellectual and physical health. 

By inclosing the stove on three sides in a case of 
sheet iron, leaving a space of two or three inches be- 
tween the case and the stove for an air chamber, the 
air will become more perfectly warmed before enter- 
ing the room at the top of the case. The best mode, 
however, of warming and ventilating large school- 
houses is by pure air heated in a furnace placed in the 
basement. The whole house can in this way be warm- 
ed without any inconvenience to the school from main- 
taining the fires, on account of either noise, dust, or 
smoke. But as this mode of warming can not be ad- 
vantageously adopted except in very large schools, it 
will not often be found desirable out of cities and large 
villages. 

Library and Apparatus. — I have already said that 
every school-house should have a room for recitations, 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 399 

library, and apparatus. In country districts where but 
one teacher is employed in a school, it will perhaps 
generally be found convenient to conduct the majority 
of the recitations in the principal school-room. But 
even where this practice obtains, there is still urgent 
necessity for a room for a library, apparatus, and other 
purposes. 

Several of the states have carried into successful 
operation the noble system of District Libraries. These, 
in the single state of New York, already contain near- 
ly two millions of volumes. In some of the new states 
the system of Township Libraries has been adopted, 
which, on some accounts, is better adapted to a sparse 
population with limited means. These, in the State of 
Michigan, already contain one hundred thousand vol- 
umes. The director of each school district draws 
from the township library every three months the num- 
ber of books his district is entitled to. These, for the 
time being, constitute the district library, and each citi- 
zen in the township is thus allowed the use of all the 
books in the township library. 

Now, whichever of these systems is adopted, the 
school-house is the appropriate depository of the libra- 
ry. There are many reasons for this. It is central. 
It is the property of the district. During term-time it 
is visited daily by members from perhaps every family 
in the district. There may, and should be, a time fix- 
ed, at least once a w T eek, when the library will be open, 
the librarian or his assistant being in attendance, at 
which time books may be returned and drawn anew. 
For this purpose, and on all accounts, no place can be 
so appropriate and free from objection as the school- 
house. The library may also be opened one or more 
evenings in the week, and especially during the winter, 
when evenings are long, as a district reading-room. 



400 THE MEANS OF 

Moreover, should a District Lyceum be established, the 
use of a well-selected library, which will always be at 
hand, and of appropriate apparatus for the illustration of 
scientific lectures, will contribute greatly to increase 
both the popularity and the usefulness of the institution. 

With such an arrangement, the children of the dis- 
trict would most assuredly be much more benefited by 
the instructions they would receive. The school would 
also possess many attractions for adults of both sexes, 
and by the co-operation of the wise and the good, its 
refining, purifying, and regenerating influences may be 
brought effectually to bear upon every family and every 
individual within the boundaries of the district. Then 
will the idea of Cousin be realized, who says, " A school 
ought to be a noble asylum, to which children will 
come, and in which they will remain with pleasure ; 
to which their parents will send them with good will ;" 
and, I will add, one whose uplifting influence both chil- 
dren and parents will constantly feel. 

Such a room as 1 have described will also be found 
important for various other purposes, as a commodious 
place for retirement in case of sudden indisposition, a 
place where a teacher may see a patron or a friend in 
private, should it be at any time desirable, or a parent 
his child. It woula^ also be of great service in giving 
the teacher an opportunity to see scholars in private, 
for various purposes, as well as in affording a conven- 
ient room for scholars to retire to, with the permission 
of the teacher, for mutual instruction. 

That able and judicious advocate of popular enlight- 
enment, and eminently successful school officer, the 
Honorable Henry Barnard, does not over-estimate the 
importance of district libraries. In speaking of the ben- 
efits they confer upon a community, he says, " Wher- 
ever such libraries have existed, especially in connec- 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 401 

tion with the advantages of superior schools and an 
educated ministry, they have called forth talent and 
virtue, which would otherwise have been buried in pov- 
erty and ignorance, to elevate, bless, and purify society. 
The establishment of a library in every school-house 
will bring the mighty instrument of good books to act 
more directly and more broadly on the entire popula- 
tion of a state than it has ever yet done ; for it will 
open the fountains of knowledge, without money and 
without price, to the humble and the elevated, the poor 
and the rich." 

Appurtenances to School-houses. — There are, per- 
haps, in the majority of school-houses, a pail for water, 
a cup, a broom, and a chair for the teacher. Some one 
or more of these are frequently wanting. I need hardly 
say, every school-house should be supplied with them 
all. In addition to these, every school-house should be 
furnished with the following articles : 1. An evapora- 
ting dish for the stove, which should be supplied with 
clean pure water. 2. A thermometer, by which the 
temperature of the room may be regulated. 3. A clock, 
by which the time of beginning and closing school, and 
conducting all its exercises, may be governed. 4. A 
shovel and tongs. 5. An ash-pail and an ash-house. 
For want of these, much filth is frequently suffered to 
accumulate in and about the school-house, and not un- 
frequently the house itself takes fire and burns down. 

6. A wood-house, well supplied with seasoned wood. 

7. A well, with provisions not only for drinking, but for 
the cleanliness of pupils. 8. And last, though not least, 
in this connection, two privies, in the rear of the school- 
house, separated by a high close fence, one for the boys 
and the other for the girls. For w T ant of these indis- 
pensable appendages of civilization, the delicacy of chil- 
dren is frequently offended, and their morals corrupted. 



402 THE MEANS OF 

Nay, more, the unnatural detention of the fceces, when 
nature calls for an evacuation, is frequently the founda- 
tion for chronic diseases, and the principal cause of per- 
manent ill health, resulting not unfrequently in prema- 
ture death. The accommodations in this respect pro- 
vided by a district in a country village of the North- 
west, whose schools have become celebrated, are none 
too ample. Two octagonal privies are provided — one 
for each sex — each of which has seven apartments. 
These are cleansed every two weeks, regularly, and 
oftener, if necessary. 

Mr. Barnard, in treating upon the external arrange- 
ments of school-houses, has the following sensible re- 
marks : " The building should not only be located on 
a dry, healthy, and pleasant site, but be surrounded by 
a yard, of never less than half an acre, protected by a 
neat and substantial inclosure. This yard should be 
large enough in front for all to occupy in common for 
recreation and sport, and planted with oaks, elms, ma- 
ples, and other shady trees, tastefully arranged in 
groups and around the sides. In the rear of the build- 
ing, it should be divided by a high and close fence, and 
one portion, appropriately fitted up, should be assigned 
exclusively for the use of boys, and the other for girls. 
Over this entire arrangement the most perfect neat- 
ness, seclusion, order, and propriety should be enforced, 
and every thing calculated to defile the mind, or wound 
the delicacy or the modesty of the most sensitive, 
should receive attention in private, and be made a mat- 
ter of parental advice and co-operation. 

* In cities and populous districts, particular attention 
should be paid to the play-ground, as connected with 
the physical education of children. In the best-con- 
ducted schools, the play-ground is now regarded as the 
uncovered school-room, where the real dispositions and 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 403 

habits of the pupils are more palpably developed, and 
can be more wisely trained, than under the restraint 
of an ordinary school-room. These grounds are pro- 
vided with circular swings, and are large enough for 
various athletic games. To protect the children in 
their sports in inclement weather, in some places, the 
school-house is built on piers ; in others, the basement 
story is properly fitted up, and thrown open as a play- 
ground." 

A good and substantial room, well fitted up, and prop- 
erly warmed in cold weather, in which children may 
conduct their sports, under the supervision of a teacher 
or monitor, is of the utmost importance ; and especial- 
ly is this true of all schools for small children. Such a 
room is, indeed, for these, hardly less important than 
the school-room. Among other things, it should be 
supplied with dumb-bells,* see-saws, weights and meas- 
ures of various kinds, etc., etc. These are important 
for both boys and girls ; but, as they are uncommon, 
it may be well to suggest the proper mode of using 
them, and the advantages they confer. 

Dumb-bells mav be used, in connection with the 
sports enumerated in the third chapter, for developing 
and strengthening the chest and improving the health. 
I would refer any who question the fitness of such ex- 
ercises to what has been said on the subject at the 77th 
and following pages, and especially to the testimony of 
Dr. Caldwell there introduced. 

See-saws, in addition to the benefits that result from 
the exercise, are attractive, and may be rendered high- 
ly instructive. For this purpose, the plank or board 

* Dumb-bells are usually made of cast iron, and sometimes of bell- 
metal, of the shape indicated by the figure, and 
should weigh from two to ten pounds each, accord- 
ing to the strength of the person using them. 



404 THE MEANS OF 

used should be well hung and properly balanced. The 
distance from the fulcrum or point of support should be 
accurately graduated, and marked in feet and inches. 
Then, knowing the weight of one scholar, the weights 
of all the others may be ascertained by their relative 
distances from the fulcrum when they exactly balance. 
These interesting experiments may be tried by any 
child as soon as he understands the ground rules of 
arithmetic, and the simple fact that, for two children to 
balance, the product of the weight of one multiplied 
into his distance from the fulcrum will exactly equal 
the product of the weight of the other into his distance 
from the fulcrum. Such simple experiments, when 
thus mingled with sports, and made interesting to 
young children, serve the double purpose of attaching 
them to the school, and of fixing in their minds the habit 
of observation and experiment, and of understanding 
the why and wherefore, which will be of incalculable 
service to them all the way through life. 

Weights and measures serve the same general pur- 
pose, and may be rendered well-nigh as useful as slates 
and black-boards. Thousands of children recite every 
year the table, "four gills make a pint, two pints make 
a quart, four quarts make a gallon," etc., month in and 
month out, without any distinct idea of what consti- 
tutes a gill or a quart, or even knowing which of the 
two is the greater. But let these measures be once in- 
troduced into the experimental play-room, and let the 
child, under the supervision of the teacher or monitor, 
actually see that four gills make a pint, etc., and he will 
learn the table with ten-fold greater pleasure than he 
otherwise would, and in one tenth the time. 

The same general remark will apply to the other 
tables of weight and measure, to experimental philos- 
ophy, and to nearly every branch of study pursued in 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 405 

the common schools of our country. T have but one 
other general remark to make on this subject, and that 
is in relation to the 

Influence of School-houses. — Cicero observes that 
the face of a man will be tinged by the sun, for what- 
ever purpose he walks abroad ; so, by daily associa- 
tions, the minds of all persons are influenced, and their 
characters permanently affected, by scenes with which 
they are familiar ; and especially is this true during 
the impressive periods of childhood and youth. Many 
persons seem to think that school-masters and school- 
mistresses do all the teaching in our schools. But it is 
not so. Fellow-students, neighbors, and citizens teach, 
by precept and by example ; and especially do school- 
houses teach. And oh ! what lessons of degradation, 
pollution, and ruin they sometimes impart ! as he can 
not fail to be convinced who remembers the testimony 
already introduced in relation to their condition. 

I have seen the fond parent accompany his lovely 
child of four summers to the school the first day of its 
attendance. The child had seen pictures of school- 
houses in books. Pictures, if not always pretty, usu- 
ally please children. It was so in this case. The 
child, anxious to go to school, talked of the school- 
house on the way. There arrived, the parent passed 
his innocent little one into the care of the teacher, with 
a few remarks, and was about to retire, when the child, 
clinging to him, said,' pathetically and energetically, 
" Pa ! pa ! ! I don't want to stay in this ugly old house ; 
I am afraid it will fall down on me : I want to go home 
to our own pretty parlor." But the parent, breaking 
away from his child, leaves it in tears, with a sad heart. 
How cruel to do such violence to the tender feelings 
of innocent children ! And how baneful the influence ! 
The school, instead of being a comfortable, pleasant. 



406 THE MEANS OF 

and delightful place, as it should be, is to the child pos- 
itively offensive, and the school-house a dreary prison. 
"Just as the twig is bent, the tree's inclined." The 
child learns to hate school, to hate instruction, and all 
that is good. He soon becomes the practiced truant. 
In a few years he arrives at manhood ; but, instead of 
being a blessing to his family and a useful member of 
society, he too frequently drags out a wretched life, in 
ignorance and penury, dividing it between the poor- 
house and jail, and terminating it, peradventure, upon 
the gallows. 

It needs the pen of a ready writer duly to portray 
the influence of neglected school-houses. Parents seem 
to have forgotten that, while men sleep, the enemy comes 
and sows tares; that if good school-houses do not ele- 
vate, neglected ones will pollute their children. I have 
already alluded, in the language of others, to the rep- 
resentations of vulgarity and obscenity that meet the 
eye in every direction. But I am constrained to add, 
that, during the intermissions, and before school, "cer- 
tain lewd fellows of the baser sort" sometimes lecture 
in the hearing of the school generally, boys and girls, 
large and small, illustrating their subject by these vul- 
gar delineations. 

But why are these things so ? And how may they 
be remedied ? Different persons will answer these 
questions variously. But when we bear in mind that, 
in architectural appearance, school-houses have very 
generally more resembled barns, sheds for cattle, or 
mechanic shops, than Temples of Science ; that win- 
dows are broken ; that benches are mutilated ; that 
desks are cut up ; that wood is unprovided ; that out- 
buildings are neglected ; that obscene images and vul- 
gar delineations meet the eye within and without; that, 
in fine, their very appearance is so contemptible, that 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 407 

scholars feel themselves degraded in being obliged to 
occupy them ; when we bear in mind all these things, 
and then consider that the impressive minds of children 
are necessarily and permanently affected by scenes 
with w T hich they become familiar, we can not wonder 
that they yield themselves to such influences, and con- 
sent to increase their degradation by multiplying the 
abominations with which they are surrounded. And 
especially shall we cease to wonder at the existence 
of these things, when we consider that scholars are 
very often unfurnished with suitable employment ; that 
the younger scholars are frequently urged on by the 
example and influence of the older ones ; and that 
teachers are sometimes employed who are so far lost to 
shame as to countenance these disgusting and corrupt- 
ing practices by engaging in them themselves ! 

A knowledge of the cause suggests the remedy. 
Let, then, the school-house be commodious and clean- 
ly ; inviting in its appearance, and elevating in its in- 
fluence. Let every member of the school, at all times, 
be furnished with entertaining and profitable employ- 
ment. Let the corrupting influence of bad example 
be at once and forever removed. And, finally, let the 
services of a well-qualified teacher, of good morals, 
correct example, and who is scrupulously watchful, be 
invariably secured. 

But if the mean appearance of our school-houses is 
one reason why they are so defaced, it may be asked, 
why do not our churches, which are frequently among 
the most elegant specimens of architecture, escape the 
pollution ? The reason is evident. The foul habit is 
contracted in the unseemly school-house, and it be- 
comes so established that it is very difficult to suspend 
its exercise even in the Temple of God. Were our 
school-houses, in point of neatness and architecture, 



408 THE MEANS OF 

equal to our churches, the evil in question would soon 
become less prevalent, and, with judicious supervision, 
we might safely predict its early extinction. 

I would not suggest that too much pains are taken to 
make our churches pleasant and comfortable, but I do 
protest that there is a great and unwise disproportion 
in the appearance of our churches and school-houses. 
It is frequently the case in villages and country neigh- 
borhoods, that the expense of the former is from fifty 
to eighty times the value of the latter. The appear- 
ance of our school-houses is an important consideration. 
If we would cultivate the beastly propensities of our 
youth, we have but to provide them places of instruc- 
tion resembling the hovels which our cattle occupy, and 
the work is well begun. On the contrary, if we would 
take into the account the whole duration of our being, 
and the cultivation and right development of the nobler 
faculties of our nature, while the animal propensities 
are allowed to remain in a quiescent state, and adapt 
means to ends, our school-houses should be pleasant and 
tasteful. Every thing offensive should be separated 
from them, and no pains should be spared to give them 
an inviting aspect and an elevating influence. 

It is easier to make children good than to reform 
wicked men. It is cheaper to construct commodious 
school-houses, with pleasant yards and suitable appur- 
tenances, than to erect numerous jails and extensive 
prisons. George B. Emerson, in a lecture on moral 
education, speaks to the point. " In regard to the low- 
er animal propensities," says he, " the only safe princi- 
ple is, that nothing should be allowed which has a ten- 
dency, directly or indirectly, to excite them. In many 
places there prevails an alarming and criminal indiffer- 
ence upon this point. It is one toward which the at- 
tention of the teacher should be carefully directed. No 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 409 

sound should be suffered from the lips; no word, or 
figure, or mark should be allowed to reach the eyes, to 
deface the wall of the house or out-house, which could 
give offense to the most sensitive delicacy. This is the 
teacher's business. He must not be indifferent to it. 
He has no right to neglect it. He can not transfer it to 
another. He, and he only, is responsible.* It is im- 
possible to be over-scrupulous in this matter. And the 
committee should see that the teacher does his duty ; 
otherwise all his lessons in duty are of no avail, and the 
school, instead of being a source of purity, delicacy, 
and refinement, becomes a fountain of corruption, 

* I would by no means free parents from responsibility in this mat- 
ter. They, if any class, may be said to be "alone responsible ;" but, 
in fact, all who are intrusted with the care of children share in the re- 
sponsibility. . Secret vice, in the opinion of those who have had occa- 
sion to remark the extent to which it is practiced, from colleges and the 
higher seminaries of learning down to the common school, and even 
in the nursery before the child is sent to school, prevails to an alarm- 
ing extent. It is often the principal, and, in many instances, the sole 
cause of a host of evils that are commonly attributed to hard study, 
among which are impaired nutrition, and general lassitude and weak- 
ness, especially of the loins and back ; loss of memory, dullness of ap- 
prehension, and both indisposition and incapacity for study ; dizziness, 
affections of the eyes, headaches, etc., etc. Secret vice in childhood 
and youth is also a fruitful source of social vice later in life, and of ex- 
cesses even within the pale of wedlock, ruinous alike to the parties 
themselves and to their offspring. Licentiousness in some of its forms, 
as we have frequently had occasion to see, from the highest testimony 
introduced into the text in various passages, in addition to the evils here 
referred to, sometimes leads to the most driveling idiocy, and to insan- 
ity in its worst forms. All, then, who have the charge of children, and 
especially parents and teachers, should exercise a rational familiarity 
with them on this delicate but important subject. They should give 
them timely counsel in relation to the temptations to which they may 
be exposed, apprise them of the evils that follow in the train of dis- 
obedience, and endeavor, by kindly advice and friendly admonition, to 
infix in their minds a delicate sense of honor, an abhorrence for this 
whole class of vice, and a determination never to entertain a thought 
of indulging the appetite for sex except within the pale of wedlock, 
and in accordance with God's own appointment. 

s 



410 THE MEANS OF 

throwing out poisonous waters, and rendering the moral 
influence more pestiferous than that fabled fountain of 
old, over which no creature of heaven could fly and 
escape death." 

In conclusion, on this subject, I would say, if there is 
one house in the district more pleasantly located, more 
comfortably constructed, better warmed, and more in- 
viting in its general appearance, and more elevating in 
its influence than any other, that house should be the 
school-house. 



WELL-QUALIFIED TEACHERS SHOULD BE EMPLOYED. 

All the provisions heretofore described would be of none effect if 
we took no pains to procure for the public school thus constituted an 
able master, and worthy of the high vocation of instructing the people. 
It can not be too often repeated, that it is the master that makes the 
school. — Guizot. 

Society can never feel the power of education until it calls into ex- 
ercise a class of effective educators. — La lor. 

One of the surest signs of the regeneration of society will be the ele- 
vation of the art of teaching to the highest rank in the community. — 
Channing. 

We come next to the consideration of school teach- 
ers ; for, in order to have good schools, we want not 
merely good school-houses. These, as already seen, 
are of the utmost importance ; but, to insure success, 
we must have good teachers in those houses. And here, 
were I addressing myself exclusively to the members 
of this profession, it would be appropriate to dwell in 
detail upon the requisite qualifications of teachers. But 
this would be foreign from my present design.* 

Among the many excellent works already before the public, I 
would name the following, which the practical teacher may profitably 
consult : The School and the Schoolmaster, hy Dr. Potter and G. B. 
Emerson; Theory and Practice of Teaching, by D. P. Page; Th« 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 411 

It has not been my intention in any thing I have yet 
said, nor will it be in any thing I may hereafter urge, 
to overlook the importance of domestic education. 
Napoleon once said to an accomplished French lady 
that the old systems of education were good for noth- 
ing, and inquired what was wanting for the proper 
training of young persons in France. With keen dis- 
cernment and great truth, she replied, in one word — 
Mothers. This reply forcibly impressed the emperor, 
and he exclaimed, "Behold an entire system of educa- 
tion ! You must make mothers that know how to train 
their children." I may add, we want mothers not only, 
but fathers too, qualified for the great work of training 
their offspring aright ; for parents are readily admitted 
to be the natural educators of their children. But the 
literary training of children has always been accom- 
plished chiefly by delegation ; and not only the litera- 
ry, but, to a great extent, the moral and religious. 

This course has been adopted on account of the sit- 
uation of families ; many parents being unable to teach 
their children themselves, and others lacking the neces- 
sary leisure to carry forward a systematic and thorough 
course of instruction. This course is dictated by pol- 
icy ; for the children of a whole neighborhood may be 
better taught, and at less expense, in good schools, than 
in their respective families. This course has also 
been adopted as a matter of necessity ; for the great- 

School Teacher's Manual, by Henry Dunn ; The Teacher, by Jacob 
Abbott; The Teacher's Manual, by Thomas H. Palmer ; The Teach- 
er Taught, by Emerson Davis; Slate and Black-board Exercises, by 
Wm. A. Alcott; Lectures on Education, by Horace Mann; Corpo- 
ral Punishment, by Lyman Cobb; Confessions of a Schoolmaster, 
by Wm. A. Alcott; The Teacher's Institute, by Wm. B. Fowle; 
The True Relation of the Sexes, by John Ware. These are also 
useful to parents. A more extended list, with tables of contents, may 
be found in Barnard's School Architecture, p. 279 to 288. 



412 THE MEANS OF 

ness of the work of education requires, in order to carry 
it forward successfully, that it should be studied as a 
profession. The teacher then engages jointly with the 
parent in the work of education, and with him shares 
its toils, its responsibilities, and its delights. 

From the greatness of the teacher's work, as we have 
already considered it — training, as he should, his youth- 
ful charge for respectability, usefulness, and happiness 
in this life, and for everlasting felicity in that which is 
to come — we may infer what should be his qualifica- 
tions. And we remark, in the general, that the busi- 
ness of 

School teaching should rank among the learned pro- 
fessions. The teacher should well understand the na- 
ture of the subjects of education, as physical, intellectu- 
al, and moral beings. The education of children can 
not safely be intrusted to persons who are not practi- 
cally acquainted with human physiology, and with men- 
tal science as based thereon. The most serious phys- 
ical evils frequently result from allowing incompetent 
persons to exercise the functions of this high and re- 
sponsible vocation. 

In addition to a thorough knowledge of all the branch- 
es in which a teacher is expected to give instruction, 
and an acquaintance with those collateral branches that 
have a bearing upon them, the instructor of youth should 
possess the rare attainment of aptness to teach. It will 
be of little avail if the teacher has become familiar with 
all wisdom, unless he can readily communicate instruc- 
tion to others. Paul, in speaking of the qualifications 
of bishops, says, among other things, they should be 
" apt to teach." This attainment is no less important 
for schoolmasters than for bishops. It is especially 
important that the teacher should Jbe well acquainted 
with intellectual philosophy and moral science. This 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 413 

is necessary, in order to enable him to judge correctly 
of character, and to teach, and govern, and train his 
charge aright. But these attainments can never be 
made until teaching is elevated to the rank of a pro- 
fession. 

The lawyer is required to devote a series of years 
to a regular course of classical study and professional 
reading before he can find employment in a case in 
which a few dollars only are pending. With this we 
find no fault. But it should not be forgotten that the 
teacher's calling is as much more important than the 
ordinary exercise of the legal profession, as the imper- 
ishable riches of mind are more valuable than the cor- 
ruptible treasures of earth. 

We seek out from among us men of sound discretion 
and good report to enact laws for the government of 
the state and nation. And with this, too, we find no 
fault. It is right and proper that we should do so. 
But it should be borne in mind that it is the teacher's 
high prerogative not only so to instruct and train the ris- 
ing generation that they shall rightly understand law, 
but to infix in their minds the principles of justice and 
equity, the attainment of which is the high aim of leg- 
islation. While our legislators enact laws for the gov- 
ernment of the people, the well-qualified and faithful 
schoolmaster prepares those under his charge to gov- 
ern themselves. Without the teacher's conservative 
influence, under the best legislation, the great mass of 
the people will be lawless ; while the tendency of his 
labors is to qualify the rising generation, who consti- 
tute our future freemen and our country's hope, to ren- 
der an enlightened, a cheerful, and a ready obedience 
to the high claims of civil law. The well-qualified, 
faithful teacher, then, becomes the right arm of the 
legislator. 



414 THE MEANS OF 

The physician is required to become thoroughly ac- 
quainted with the anatomy and physiology of the hu- 
man body ; in a word, to become acquainted with " the 
house I live in ;" to understand the diseases to which 
we are subject, and their proper treatment, before he 
is allowed to extract a tooth, to open a vein, or admin- 
ister the simplest medicine. Nor with this do we find 
fault, for we justly prize the body. It is the habitation 
of the immortal mind. When in health, it is the mind's 
servant, and ready to do its biddings ; but darken its 
windows by disease, and it becomes the mind's prison- 
house. But while the physician, whom we honor and 
love, is required to make these attainments before he is 
permitted even to impair "the house I live in," should 
not he who teaches the master of the house be entitled 
to a respectable rank in society ? 

It is common, in the various branches of the Church 
universal, for men who feel themselves called of God 
to preach the Gospel to obtain a collegiate education, 
and then devote several years to professional study, 
before exercising the functions of the sacred office ; 
and. this has been required by popular opinion. And 
heretofore, I may add, the efforts of the minister have 
been directed chiefly to the reformation of adults whose 
early training has been imperfectly attended to, and to 
the building up of a religious character where no cor- 
rect early foundation has been laid, when the time and 
energies of a people upon whom labor is bestowed are 
devoted chiefly to absorbing secular pursuits. The 
competent and faithful teacher, on the contrary, enters 
upon the discharge of his duties under circumstances 
widely different, and with infinitely better prospects of 
success. Jesus said, Suffer the little children to come 
unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the king- 
dom of God. These are they upon whom the teacher 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 415 

is called to bestow labor. He remembers that Solo- 
mon the wise has said, Train up a child in the way he 
should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it; 
and he confidently expects that, with proper parental 
co-operation, if he faithfully discharges his duty, and 
directs his efforts in accordance with the will of the 
Great Teacher, his youthful charge, when arrived at 
the years of accountability, and in all future life, will 
be like " the child Samuel, who grew on, and was in 
favor both with the Lord and also with men." No 
wonder, then, that Channing should say, " One of the 
surest signs of the regeneration of society will be the ele- 
vation of teaching to the highest rank in the community." 

The clerical profession can never equal that of the 
teacher in moral sublimity and prospective usefulness 
until religious teachers come to direct their attention 
chiefly to the correct early education of the young in 
the Sabbath-schools, but more especially in the com- 
mon schools of our country. Then, and not till then, 
will it be entitled to the pre-eminence. 

Should any teacher, in view of the immense respons- 
ibilities of his calling, be disposed to inquire, as all well 
may, Who is sufficient for these things? we would say 
to him, in the language of Wirt, " Let your motto be 
Perseverando vinces — by perseverance thou wilt over- 
come. Practice upon it, and you will be convinced of 
its value by the distinguished pre-eminence to which it 
will lead you." Especially will this be true in case the 
anxious teacher faithfully complies with the Divine di- 
rection, If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, 
that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not ; and 
it shall be given him. 

Parents and citizens generally should be impressed 
with the truth of the maxim, " As is the teacher, so will 
be the school." They should desire for their own chil- 



416 THE MEANS OF 

dren, and for all others, teachers whose intellectual, 
social, and moral habits are, in all respects, what they 
are willing their children should form. They should, 
at least, be well apprised of this fact : If the teacher 
is not, in these respects, what they would have their 
children become, their children will be likelv to become 
what the teacher is. 

There is a story of a German schoolmaster, which 
shows the low notions that may be entertained of edu- 
cation. Stouber, the predecessor of Oberlin, the pastor 
of Waldbach, on his arrival at the place, desired to be 
shown to the principal school-house. He was conduct- 
ed into a miserable cottage, where a number of chil- 
dren were crowded together, without any occupation. 
He inquired for the master. " There he is," said one, 
as soon as silence could be obtained, pointing to a with- 
ered old man, who lay on a little bed in one corner. 
" Are you the master, my friend ?" asked Stouber. 
"Yes, sir." "And what do you teach the children?" 
" Nothing, sir." " Nothing ! how is that V " Because," 
replied the old man, " I know nothing myself." " Why, 
then, were you appointed the schoolmaster ?" " Why, 
sir, I had been taking care of the Waldbach pigs a num- 
ber of years, and when I got too old and infirm for that 
employment, they sent me here to take care of the 
children." 

This anecdote may evince a degree of stupidity not 
to be met with in this country. We are, however, very 
far from being as careful in the selection of teachers as 
we ought to be. Unworthy teachers frequently find 
employment. I refer not to teachers whose literary 
qualifications are insufficient, although, as we have al- 
ready seen, there are quite too many such. I refer 
now more particularly to those who are disqualified 
for the office because of moral obliquity. 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 417 

Teachers are sometimes employed who are habitua 1 
Sabbath breakers ; who are accustomed to the use of 
vulgar and profane language ; who frequent the gam- 
bling table ; who habitually use tobacco, in several of 
its forms, and that in the school-house ! nay, more, 
who even teach the despicable habit to their children 
during school hours ! Several emperors have prohib- 
ited the use of this filthy weed in their respective king- 
doms, under the severest penalties. The pope has 
made a bull to excommunicate all those who use to- 
bacco in the churches. One of the most numerous of 
the Protestant sects once prohibited the use of tobacco 
in their society ; but so strong is this filthy habit, espe- 
cially when formed in early life, that this society has 
backslidden and given up this excellent rule. 

Since writing the above, I have noticed an article 
headed " Tobacco-using Ministers," which has appear- 
ed in several highly-reputable and widely-circulating 
periodicals, from which it appears that a large annual 
conference of divines of the same order, among other 
resolutions, have adopted one recommending "that the 
ministers refrain from the use of tobacco in all its forms, 
especially in the house of worship." 

In commenting upon this action, a religious paper 
observes, that "by 'tobacco in all its forms' we sup- 
pose is meant chewing, smoking, and snuffing. But 
can it be possible that a minister, whose duty it is to 
recommend purity, and whose example should be clean- 
liness, can need conference resolutions to dissuade him 
from a practice so filthy and disgusting ? And do they 
even carry this inconsistency into the i house of wor- 
ship V So it seems !" But such is the severity of the 
strictures in the article referred to, that, although just, 
I forbear inserting them. 

It has been suggested that, while Robinson Crusoe 

S2 



418 THE MEANS OF 

was alone on his island, he may have had a right to 
smoke, snuff, or chew ; but that, when his man Friday 
came, " a decent regard for the opinions of mankind" — 
as the Declaration of Independence has it — should have 
debarred him at once from further indulgence. 

One who has enjoyed large opportunities of observ- 
ing, and who is scrupulous to a proverb, has remark- 
ed, that "the ministerial profession is probably the most 
offending in this particular. The Scriptures have 
much to say about keeping the body pure. Had tobac- 
co been known to the Hebrews, who can doubt that it 
would have been among the articles prohibited by the 
Levitical law ? St. Paul beseeches the Romans, by 
the mercies of God, to present their bodies 'a living 
sacrifice, holy and acceptable.' To the Corinthians he 
says, ' Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and 
that the spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man 
defile the temple of God, him will God destroy ; for the 
temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.'' He com- 
mands them to glorify God in their body as well as in 
their spirit ; for ' know ye not,' says he, ' that your 
body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?' What sort of 
a ' temple of the Holy Ghost' is he, every atom and 
molecule of whose physical system is saturated and 
stenched with the vile fetor of tobacco ; whose every 
vesicle is distended by its foul gases ; whose brain and 
marrow are begrimed and blackened with its sooty 
vapors and effluxions ; all whose pores jet forth its ma- 
lignant stream like so many hydrants ; whose prayers 
are breathed out, not with a sweet, but with a foul- 
smelling savor; who baptizes infants with a hand which 
itself needs literal baptism and purification as by fire ; 
and who carries to the bed-side of the dying an odor 
which, if the 'immaterial essence' could be infected 
by any earthly virus, would subject the departed soul 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 419 

to quarantine before it could enter the gates of 
heaven?"* 

" Touch not, taste not, handle not," is the only safe 
rule in relation to all vicious practices ; and especial- 
ly is it true of this habit, which we can not call beastly, 
for there is not a natural beast in creation that indulges 
in it. I therefore congratulate my countrymen in 
view of the prospect before us of ultimately being freed 
from this disgusting and filthy habit, for the Board of 
Education in some of our cities have already wisely 
adopted the rule of employing no teachers who use to- 
bacco in any form. Let this rule become universal 
among us, and the next generation will be compara- 
tively free from the use of that repulsive weed, which 
only one of all created beings takes to naturally. 
Wherever else the filthy practice may be allowed, it 
ought never to be permitted in a house consecrated to 
the sacred work of educating the rising generation. 
And just look at the immense expenditure in this coun- 

* A female teacher in the Bay State, in 1847, addressed the follow- 
ing inquiry through the columns of the Massachusetts Common School 
Journal : 

** I have been laboring for the last year in a large school, and have 
endeavored, according to the best of my ability, to inculcate habits of 
neatness among the pupils, especially to break them of the filthy habit 
of spitting upon the floor. I have often told them gentlemen never do 
it. But at a recent visit of the committee, an individual, who has been 
elected by the town to superintend the educational interests of the 
rising generation, spit the dirty juice of his tobacco quid upon the floor 
of my school-room with apparent self-complacency. 

" Shall I say to the children that this person is not a gentleman, and 
thus destroy his influence 1 or shall I pass it over in silence, and thus 
leave them to draw the natural inference that all I have said on the 
subject is only a woman's whim ?" 

Mr. Mann, the editor, gave a full reply through the Journal, from 
which I have here quoted part of a paragraph. He closes by offering 
a prize of the " eternal gratitude of all decent men" to the discoverer 
of a remedy or antidote for the evil. 



420 THE MEANS OF 

try for the support of this pernicious habit. It is said, 
on good authority, that for smoking merely we pay 
annually a tax of ten millions of dollars, which is a 
much greater sum than is paid to the teachers of all the 
public schools in the United States. 

But to return : teachers are sometimes employed 
who are addicted to inebriety ; who are notorious liber- 
tines, and unblushingly boast of the number of their 
victims. But I will not extend this dark catalogue. 
Comment is unnecessary. My fellow-countrymen, who 
have carefully perused and properly w r eighed the pre- 
ceding considerations, I doubt not, will concur with me 
in the opinion that there is no station in life — no, not 
excepting even the clerical office, that, in order to be 
well filled, so much demands purity of heart, simplicity 
of life, 'Christian courtesy, and every thing that will en- 
noble man, and beautify and give dignity to the human 
character, as that of the primary school-teacher. He 
influences his pupils in the formation of habits and char- 
acter, by precept, it is true, but chiefly by example. 
His example, then, should be such, that, if strictly fol- 
lowed by his pupils, it will lead them aright in all things, 
astray in nothing. It should be his chief concern to 
allure to brighter worlds on high, and himself lead the 
way. Then, and not till then, will he be prepared to 
magnify and fill his office. 

But, it may be said, we have not a sufficiency of 
well-qualified teachers, according to this standard, to 
take the charge of all, or of any considerable part of 
our schools. This is very readily admitted. Some 
such, however, there are. These should be employed. 
Their influence will be felt by others. The present gen- 
eration of teachers may be much improved by means of 
teachers' associations and teachers' institutes. By the 
establishment of normal schools, or teachers' semina- 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 421 

nes, a higher grade of teachers may be trained up and 
qualified to take the charge of the next generation of 
scholars. These institutions have been established in 
several of the European states, in New England and 
New York, and more recently in Michigan, by the 
several State Legislatures, and to some extent in other 
states. " Those seminaries for training masters," says 
Lord Brougham, " are an invaluable gift to mankind, 
and lead to the indefinite improvement of education." 
In remarking upon their advantages, the same high 
authority says, " These training seminaries would not 
only teach the masters the branches of learning and 
science they are now deficient in, but would teach them 
what they know far less — the didactic art — the mode 
of imparting the knowledge which they have or may 
acquire ; the best mode of training and dealing with 
children in all that regards both temper, capacity, and 
habits, and the means of stirring them to exertion, and 
controlling their aberrations." 

Normal schools are essential to the complete success 
of any system of popular education. The necessity 
for their establishment can not fail to be apparent to 
any one at all competent to judge, when he considers 
the early age at which young persons of both sexes 
generally enter upon the business of school-teaching — 
or, perhaps I may more appropriately say, of "keep- 
ing" school ; for the majority of them can hardly be re- 
garded as competent to teach. 

For the purpose of being more specific, and of im- 
pressing, if possible, upon the mind of the reader, the 
necessity of professional instruction, the author trusts 
he will be pardoned for introducing a few paragraphs 
from a report made nine years ago as county super- 
intendent of common schools in the State of New York, 
and which was printed at that time in the Assembly 



422 THE MEANS OF 

documents of that state. The author, at the time re- 
ferred to, exercised a general supervision over more 
than twenty thousand children, aided in the examina- 
tion of the teachers of twenty large townships, and vis- 
ited and inspected their schools. Nine years' addition- 
al experience — four of which have been devoted to the 
supervision of the schools of a large state, and a con- 
siderable portion of the remaining time to the visitation 
of schools in different states — has convinced him that 
the condition of common schools, and the qualifications 
of teachers in those states of the Union where increas- 
ed attention has not been bestowed upon the subject 
within a few years past, are not in advance of what 
they were at that time in the county referred to. The 
paragraphs introduced are included within brackets. 

[Literary Qualifications. — Some of the teachers 
possess a very limited knowledge of the branches usu- 
ally taught in our common schools. This is true even 
of a portion of those who have bestowed considerable 
attention upon some of the higher branches of study. 
There is in our common schools, and indeed in our 
higher schools, an undue anxiety to advance rapidly. 
A score of persons may be heard speaking of the num- 
ber of their recitations, of their rapid progress, and per- 
haps of skipping difficulties, while hardly one will speak 
of progressing under standingly, and comprehending 
every principle as he proceeds. When students speak 
of their progress in study, their first qualifying word 
should be thorough, after which, if they please, they 
may add rapid. 

The following circumstances, that have occurred in 
classes of both ladies and gentlemen who have present- 
ed themselves for examination as candidates for teach- 
ing, illustrate the nature and extent of the evil. I have 
more than once received, in answer to the question 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 423 

* What is language V 9 the following reply : " Language 
is an unlimited sense." I have met with some experi- 
enced teachers, holding two or three town certificates, 
who did not know one half of the marks and pauses 
used in writing. They could, indeed, generally recite 
the answers in the spelling-book with some degree of 
accuracy ; but when the marks have been pointed out, 
and their names and use have been asked, teachers in 
service have sometimes mistaken the note of interroga- 
tion for a parenthesis, and made other as gross errors. 
In answer to the question "What is arithmetic?" I 
have several times received the following reply : " It 
is the art of science" etc. Sometimes this constitutes 
the entire reply. In one instance four fifths of the class 
united in this answer. The terms sum, remainder, prod- 
uct, and quotient are frequently applied indiscriminate- 
ly in the four ground rules of arithmetic. There are, 
hence, three chances for them to be used erroneously 
where there is one chance for them to be correctly ap- 
plied. The following expressions are common : Add 
up and set down the remainder ; subtract and set down 
the quotient; multiply and write down the sum; divide 
and write down the product, etc.: never so much as 
thinking that sum belongs to addition ; remainder, to 
subtraction ; product, to multiplication ; and quotient, 
to division. In attending the examination of such 
teachers, any person of discernment w 7 ill soon become 
satisfied that with them " language is an unlimited 
sense ;" that " arithmetic is the art of science ;" and 
that grammar, too, is " the art of science ;" for the same 
answer has been given to the question, "What is gram- 
mar V 9 I introduce these things, not for the purpose 
of ridiculing any portion of our teachers, but to exem- 
plify the extent of the evil under consideration. 

The majority of teachers manifest a tolerable famil- 



424 THE MEANS OF 

iarity with the branches usually taught in our common 
schools. They have not, however, generally studied 
more than one author on the same subject. 

A portion of our teachers, it gives me pleasure to 
add, are not only superior scholars in the common En- 
glish branches, but they have made respectable attain- 
ments in philosophy, astronomy, chemistry, algebra, 
Latin, etc. All of these branches are successfully 
taught in a few of our schools. 

School Government. — There is, perhaps, as wide a 
difference in the administration of government in our 
common schools as in any other particular connected 
with them. Good government requires the healthful ex- 
ercise of a rare combination of good qualities. But this 
can not reasonably be expected in inexperienced youth, 
who, instead of being guided by enlightened moral sen- 
timent, have not only never subjected themselves to gov- 
ernment, but are totally unacquainted with the princi- 
ples upon which it should be administered. About one 
third of our schools are tolerably well governed. A 
portion of them are under a wise and parental super- 
vision, the government being uniformly mild, and at the 
same time efficient. But indecision, rashness, and in- 
efficiency are far more common. Sometimes teachers 
resolve to have no whispering, leaving seats, asking 
questions, etc., among any of the scholars, and severely 
punish every detected offender. Soon a portion of the 
patrons justly manifest dissatisfaction. Then all at- 
tempts to govern the school are unwisely given up. 
Many teachers thus rashly fly from one extreme of 
government to the other, without stopping to test the 
" golden mean," or even appearing to bestow a single 
thought upon the. subject. 

Again : the feelings of the teacher have been out- 
raged by having frequently witnessed severity, and 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 425 

even cruelty, in government ; and, in studiously avoid- 
ing them, he has inadvertently adopted a lax govern- 
ment, if government it may be called. The latter may- 
be the more amiable extreme, but it is hardly the less 
fatal. I have heard scholars say in the presence of 
such a teacher, " We have a good teacher, who gives 
us all the good advice we need, and then lets us do as 
we please ;" and then I have witnessed whispering, 
talking, chewing gum and throwing it about the house, 
passing from seat to seat, playing with tops and whirls, 
tossing wads of wet paper about the house and to the 
ceiling, cutting images upon the desks, imitating the 
practice of botanic physicians, exhibiting and passing 
from one to another roots and herbs, and discoursing 
upon their properties, chasing mice about the house, 
and in some instances slaying them, and practicing sun- 
dry other antics too numerous to be mentioned. Good 
advice was freely given, bat it was disregarded with 
impunity. 

Government in school, as elsewhere, should be mild 
but efficient. The teacher should speak kindly, but 
with authority. Every request should meet with a 
ready compliance. The scholars will not only fear to 
disobey such a teacher, but will, at the same time, re- 
spect, and even love him. This is not only good the- 
ory, but is susceptible of being reduced to practice. It 
is, indeed, exemplified in many of our schools, as a visit 
to them will clearly manifest. I know of no one thing 
in school government more mischievous in its tendency 
than the habit of speaking several times without being 
obeyed. 

Mode of Instruction. — In some schools the instruc- 
tion is thorough and systematic. In them the scholars 
generally learn principles, and understand, and are able 
to explain, all that they pass over. But this is the case 



426 THE MEANS OF 

in comparatively few schools. Scholars generally are 
poorly instructed, and understand very imperfectly 
what they profess to have learned. I will give a few 
illustrations : 

First. Scholars are frequently introduced to the 
twenty-six letters of the alphabet four times a day for 
several weeks in succession, without making a single 
acquaintance. They occasionally become so familiar 
with their names and order as to repeat them down 
and back, as well without the book as with it, before 
learning a single letter. 

This method of instruction is as unphilosophical as 
it is unsuccessful. Were I to be introduced to twenty- 
six strangers, and were my introducer to pronounce 
their names in rapid succession down and back, giving 
me merely an opportunity of pronouncing them after 
him, I should hardly expect to form a single acquaint- 
ance with twenty-six introductions. But were he to in- 
troduce me to one, and give me an opportunity of shak- 
ing hands with him, of conversing with him, of observ- 
ing his features, etc. ; and were he then to introduce 
me to another, in like manner, with the privilege of 
shaking hands again with the first, before my introduc- 
tion to the third ; and were he thus to introduce me to 
them all successively, I might form twenty-six acquaint- 
ances with one introduction. 

The application is readily made. Introduce the abe- 
cedarian to but one letter at first. Describe it to him 
familiarly. Fix its contour distinctly in his mind. 
Compare it with things with which he is acquainted, 
if it will admit of such comparison. It might be well 
to make the letter upon a slate or black-board. When 
he shall have becorrfe acquainted with one letter so as 
to know it any where, introduce him to another. After 
he becomes acquainted with the second, let him again 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 427 

point out the first. As he learns new letters, he will 
thus retain a knowledge of those he has previously 
learned. It is immaterial where we commence, pro- 
vided two conditions are fulfilled. It would be well 
to have the first letters as simple in their construction, 
and as easily described, as possible. It would be well, 
also, to have them so selected as to combine and form 
simple words, with which the child is familiar. He 
will thus become encouraged in his first efforts. 

Suppose we commence with O, and tell the child 
that it is round ; that it is shaped like the button on his 
coat, or like a penny, which might be shown to him. 
After the child has become somewhat familiar with its 
shape and name, suppose we inquire what there was on 
the breakfast table shaped like O. It may be necessary 
to name a few articles, as knives, forks, spoons, plates. 
Before there is time to proceed further, the child, in 
nine cases out of ten, will say, " The plates look like 
O." Suppose we next take X, which may be repre- 
sented by crossing the fore-fingers, or two little sticks. 
We can now teach the child that these two letters, com- 
bined, spell ox. We might then tell him a familiar 
story about oxen ; that we put a yoke on them ; that 
they draw the cart, etc. ; and that cart-wheels are great 
O's. Suppose w T e take B next. We might tell the 
child that it is a straight line with two bows on the right 
side of it, and that it is shaped some like the ox-yoke. 
We might then instruct him that these three letters, B, 
O, and X, combined, spell box; that its top and sides 
are rectangles, and that its ends are squares, if they 
are so. The child has now learned three letters, two 
words, and a score of ideas. He, moreover, likes to 
go to school. Any other method in w T hich children 
would be equally interested might be pursued in- 
stead of this, which is only introduced as a specimen of 



428 THE MEANS OF 

the manner in which the alphabet has been successful- 
ly taught.* Better methods may be devised. 

Second. The Roman notation table is sometimes 
taught after the same manner. After spelling, I have 
heard the teacher say to the class, One I. ? to which 
the scholar at the head would reply, one ; and the ex- 
ercise would continue through the class, as follows: 
two I.'s ? two ; three l.'s ? three ; IV. ? four ; and so 
on, to two X.'s ? twenty ; three X.'s ? twenty-one. No, 
says the teacher, thirty. Thus corrected, the class 
went through the entire table, without making another 
mistake. The thought occurred to me that they did not 
know their lesson, though they had recited it, making but 
one mistake. With the permission of the teacher, I in- 
quired of the class, "What does IV. stand for?" None 
of them could tell. I then inquired, "What do VII. 
stand for?" They all shook their heads. I next in- 
quired, "What does IX. stand for?" and the teacher re- 
marked," They have just got it learnt the other way ; they 
hdnUt learnt it that way yet." They had all learned to 
count; they hence recited correctly to twenty; and 
when told that three X.'s stand for thirty instead of 
twenty-one, they passed on readily to forty, fifty, sixty, 
etc., without making another mistake. And this, too, 
is but a specimen of the evil. 

In teaching this table, the child should be instructed, 

* Since these suggestions were first given to the public, several ex- 
cellent books for children have been published, constructed on a simi- 
lar plan to that here recommended. It w#l generally be found advan- 
tageous to teach the vowels first, and then to teach such consonants as 
combine with the long sound of the vowel ; as, for example, first o ; then 
g, h, 1, n, and s, when the child can read go, ho, lo, no, and so. After 
this, e may be learned, and then b, m, and s, when the child can read 
be, bee, me, and see. Then these may be combined as see me ; lo, 
see me; see me ho; lo, see me ho, etc. The idea is, that every letter 
and combination of letters be used as fast they are learned. 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 429 

in the beginning, that there are but seven letters used, 
by which all numbers may be represented ; that when 
standing alone, I. represents one ; Y.,five ; X., ten ; L., 
fifty ; C, one hundred ; T>.,five hundred; and M., one 
thousand. The child should next be taught that, as 
often as a letter is repeated, so many times its value is 
repeated ; thus, X. represents ten ; two X.'s, twenty ; 
three X.'s, thirty, etc. ; that when a letter representing 
a less number is placed after one representing a greater, 
its value is to be added; thus, VII. represent seven; 
LX., sixty, etc. ; that when a letter representing a less 
number is placed before one representing a greater, its 
value is to be subtracted ; thus, IV. represents/owr ; IX., 
nine ; XL., forty, etc. When the child understands 
what is here presented, he has the key to the whole 
matter. He is acquainted with the principle upon 
which the tables are constructed, and a little practice 
will enable him to apply it, as well to what is not in the 
table as to what is in it. I have known scholars study 
that table faithfully four months, and then have but an 
imperfect knowledge of what was in the book. I have 
known others who, with one hour's study, after five 
minutes' instruction in the principles here laid down, un- 
derstood the table perfectly, and could recite it, with- 
out making a single mistake, even before they had 
studied the whole of it once over. 

Third. The manner in which reading is generally 
taught is hardly superior to the modes of instruction 
already considered. In many instances, commendable 
effort is made to secure correct pronunciation, and a 
proper observance of the inflections and pauses. But 
there is a great lack in understanding what is read. 
When visiting schools, with the permission of the 
teacher, I usually interrogate reading classes with ref- 
erence to the meaning of what they have read. Occa- 



430 THE MEANS OF 

sionally I receive answers that give satisfactory evi- 
dences of correct instruction. Generally, however, the 
scholars have no distinct idea concerning the author's 
meaning. They, astonished, sometimes say, "I didn't 
know as the meaning has any thing to do with read- 
ing ; I try to pronounce the words right, and mind the 
stops." Teachers sometimes say their scholars are 
poor readers, and it takes all their attention to pro- 
nounce their words correctly. They therefore do not 
wish to have them try to understand what they read, 
thinking it would be a hinderance to them. They oc- 
casionally justify themselves in the course they pursue, 
saying, " I don't have time to question my classes on 
their reading, nor hardly time to look over and cor- 
rect mistakes." At the same time they will read three 
or four times around, twice a day or oftener. The idea 
prevails extensively, judging from the practice of teach- 
ers, that the value of their services depends upon the 
extent of the various exercises of the school. If the 
classes can read several times around, twice a day, 
and spell two or three pages, teachers frequently think 
they have done well, even though one half of the mis- 
takes in reading are uncorrected, and one fourth or 
more of the words in the spelling lessons are misspell- 
ed, to say nothing of understanding what is read. The 
majority of schools might be very much improved by 
conducting them upon the principle that " what is worth 
doing at all is worth doing well." I am fully satisfied 
that it is incomparably better for classes to read once 
around, once a day, and understand what they read, 
than to read four times around, four times a day, with- 
out understanding their lessons. Scholars should, in- 
deed, never be allowed to read what is beyond their 
comprehension ; and great pains should be taken to see 
that they actually understand every lesson, and every 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 431 

book read. The early formation of such a habit will 
be of incalculable value in after life. 

I will introduce one extract from my note-book by 
way of illustration. The reader will please observe 
that it relates to neither a back district nor an inex- 
perienced teacher. 

i4 This is one of the oldest and most important dis- 
tricts in town. The school is taught by an experienced 
and highly-reputable teacher. The first class in the 
English Reader read the section entitled ; The Journey 
of a Day ; a Picture of Human Life.' Obidah had been 
contemplating the beauties of nature, visiting cascades, 
viewing prospects, etc., and in these amusements the 
hours passed away uncounted, till ' day vanished from 
before him, and a sudden tempest gathered around his 
head ;' when, it is said, ' he beheld through the bram- 
bles the glimmer of a taper.' I inquired of the class, 

* What is a taper V No one replied. I added, * It is 
either the sun, a light, a house, or a man,' whereupon 
one replied, ' the sun ;' another, ' a house ;' another still, 

* a house ;' and still another, ' a man.' I next inquired, 

* What does glimmer mean V No reply being given, I 
added, ' It either means a light, the shadow, the top, or 
the bottom.' They then replied successively as fol- 
lows : ' Top, shadow, bottom,' which would give their 
several ideas of the phrase, * the glimmer of a taper,' 
as follows : The shadow of a house. The top of a 
man. The bottom of the sun, etc. It should be borne 
in mind, the class had just read that this ' taper' was 
discovered after ' day had vanished from sight.' " 

This example is selected from among more than a 
hundred, scores of which are more striking illustrations 
than the one introduced, which is selected because it 
occurred in the first class of an important school, taught 
by an experienced and highly-reputable teacher. 



432 THE MEANS OF 

The habit of reading without understanding origin- 
ates mainly in the circumstance that the books put into 
the hands of children are to them uninteresting. The 
style and matter are often above their comprehension. 
It is impossible, for example, for children at an early age 
to understand the English Reader, a work which fre- 
quently constitutes their only reading-book (at least in 
school) when but seven years of age. The English 
Reader is an excellent book, and would grace the library 
of any gentleman. But it requires a better knowledge 
of language, and more maturity of mind than is often 
possessed by children ten years old, to understand it, 
and to be interested in its perusal. Hence its use in- 
duces the habit of" pronouncing the words and mind- 
ing the stops," with hardly a single successful effort to 
arrive at the idea of the author. To this early-formed 
habit may be traced the prevailing indifference, and, in 
some instances, aversion to reading, manifested not only 
in childhood, but in after life. 

The matter and stvle of the reading-book should be 
adapted to the capacity and taste of the learner. The 
teacher should see that it is well understood, and then 
it can hardly prove uninteresting, or be otherwise than 
well read. Children should read less in school than 
they ordinarily do, and greater pains should be taken 
to have them understand every sentence, and word 
even, of what they do read. They will thus become 
more interested in their reading, and read much more 
extensively, not only while young, but in after life, and 
with incomparably more profit. 

Fourth. I have heard several classes in geography 
bound states and counties with a considerable degree 
of accuracy, when none of them could point to the 
north, south, east, or west. Indeed, a portion of them 
were not aware that these terms relate to the four car- 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 433 

dinal points of the compass. Still more : some of them 
say that " geography is a description of the earth," but 
they do not know as they ever saw the earth. They 
have no idea that they live upon it. Scholars in gram- 
mar frequently think that the only object of the study 
is to enable them to recite the definitions and rules, and 
to parse. They do not look for any assistance in think- 
ing, speaking, or writing correctly, neither do they ex- 
pect any aid therefrom in understanding what they read. 

Classes in arithmetic not unfrequently think the prin- 
cipal object in pursuing that science is to be able to do 
the sums according to the rule, and perhaps to prove 
them. Propose to them a practical question for solu- 
tion, and their reply is, " That isn't in the arithmetic." 
Some one more courageous may say, " If you'll tell me 
what rule it is in, I'll try it !" Practical questions should 
be added by the teacher, till the class can readily ap- 
ply the principles of each rule to the ordinary transac- 
tions of business in which they are requisite. Gener- 
ally, in grammar, arithmetic, and elsewhere, there is 
too much inquiry, comparatively, after the how, and too 
little after the why.~\ 

Now if these paragraphs, descriptive of the condi- 
tion of common schools and the qualifications of teach- 
ers at the commencement of the educational reform in 
New York, are applicable to those states of the Union 
whose provisions for general education are not equal 
to what hers then were, nothing can be plainer than 
that there exists an imperative demand for the estab- 
lishment of normal schools in every part of the Union. 
Massachusetts has three ; but her provisions in this re- 
spect are not adequate to her necessities. 

Union schools, and systems of graded schools in 
cities and villages, should possess a normal character- 
istic ; that is, young men and women who have the 

T 



434 THE MEANS OF 

requisite natural and acquired ability should be em- 
ployed as assistants in the lower departments, and 
should sustain essentially the relation of apprenticed 
teachers, to be promoted or discontinued according as 
they shall prove themselves worthy or otherwise. In 
the public schools of the city of New York there are 
about two hundred teachers of this description. These 
and all the less experienced teachers meet at a stated 
time every week for the purpose of receiving normal 
instruction from a committee of teachers whose instruc- 
tions are adapted to their wants. A similar feature has 
been adopted in other cities, and in many villages, and 
should become universal among us. 

In connection with the suggestions I have just intro- 
duced from a former report, I wish to say, I know of no 
reform which is more needed in our schools than that 
of rendering instruction at once thorough and practical. 
The suggestion in the note on the 428th page, in rela- 
tion to teaching the alphabet, will admit of general ap- 
plication. As fast as principles are learned, they should 
be applied. Practical questions for the exercise of the 
student should be interspersed with the lessons in all 
our text-books, when the nature of the subject will ad- 
mit of it. When these are not given by the author, 
they should be supplied by the teacher. 

I will illustrate by an example. Several years ago 
a teacher had the charge of a class in natural philoso- 
phy. There were no questions in the text-book used 
for the exercise of the student, as here recommended. 
In treating upon the hydraulic press, the author said, 
in relation to the force to be obtained by its use, " If a 
pressure of two tons be given to a piston, the diameter, 
of which is only a quarter of an inch, the force trans- 
mitted to the other piston, if three feet in diameter, 
would be upward of forty thousand tons." The teach- 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 435 

er inquired of the class, How much upward of forty 
thousand tons would the pressure be ? Not one in a 
large class was prepared to answer the question. Some 
of the scholars laughed outright at the idea of asking 
such a question. After a few familiar remarks by the 
teacher, the class was dismissed. This question, how- 
ever, constituted a part of their review lesson. The 
next day found it solved by every member of the class. 
Several of the scholars said to the teacher that they 
had derived more practical information in relation to 
natural philosophy from the solution of this one ques- 
tion, than they had previously acquired in studying it 
several quarters. 

In treating upon the velocity of falling bodies, such 
questions as the following might be asked : Suppose a 
body in a vacuum falls sixteen feet the first second, 
how far will it fall the first three seconds ? How far 
will it fall the next three seconds ? How much further 
will it fall during the ninth second than in the fifth ? 
If this paragraph should be read by any teacher or 
student of natural philosophy who has not been accus- 
tomed thus to apply principles, the author would sug- 
gest that it may be found pleasant and perhaps profit- 
able to pause and solve these questions before reading 
further. 

The importance of reducing immediately to practice 
every thing that is learned, is no less essential in moral 
and religious education than in physical or intellectual. 
Indeed, any thing short of this is jeoparding one's dear- 
est interests ; for " to him that knoweth to do good and 
doeth it not, to him it is sin." The practical educator 
should bear in mind that man is susceptible of progres- 
sion in his moral and religious nature as well as in his 
physical and intellectual. " Cease to do evil ; learn to 
do well," is the Divine command. He who does onlv 



436 THE MEANS OF 

the former has but a negative goodness. The practice 
of the latter is essential to the healthful condition of 
the soul. It is important that we seek earnestly to be 
" cleansed from secret faults." Without this, our prog- 
ress in excellence will at best be slow. While " the 
way of the wicked is as darkness, and they stumble at 
they know not what," it is nevertheless true that "the 
path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more 
and more unto the perfect day." 

Understanding what we do of the nature of man, the 
subject of education, and knowing that " the fear of the 
Lord is the beginning of wisdom," and that the Great 
Teacher, who " taught as one having authority," hath 
said, " Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his right- 
eousness," can we regard it any thing less than con- 
summate folly to enter upon the work of education in 
the open neglect of these precepts ? Should we not 
rather cheerfully comply with them, and do what we 
can to encourage all teachers, and all who receive in- 
struction, to regard this law of progression, so that, 
while their physical and intellectual natures are being 
cultivated and developed, they may not remain "babes" 
in the practice of morality and the Christian virtues, but 
" grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and 
Savior Jesus Christ?" 

We can not expect the student will excel his teacher, 
if indeed he equals him, in merely intellectual pursuits ; 
much less can we reasonably look for superior attain- 
ments in morals and religion. If, then, the teacher 
would secure the most perfect obedience of his scholars 
from the highest motives, he must show them that he 
himself cheerfully and habitually complies, in heart and 
in life, with all the precepts of the Great Teacher, with 
whom is lodged all authority, and from whom he de- 
rives his. When the members of a school become con- 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 437 

vinced that their teacher habitually asks wisdom of the 
Supreme Educator, whose will he aims constantly to 
do, they will feel almost irresistibly urged to yield obe- 
dience to the precepts of Christianity, and, with suitable 
encouragement, will take upon themselves the easy yoke 
of Christ.* 

Even common arithmetic, when well taught, and il- 
lustrated by judiciously constructed examples, may be 
made not only more practical than it has usually been 
heretofore, but while the student is becoming acquaint- 
ed with the science of numbers, it may be rendered an 
efficient instrumentality in showing the advantages of 
knowledge and virtue, and the expense and burden to 
the community of ignorance and crime, thus promoting 
the great work of moral culture, as is beautifully illus- 
trated by the following examples, selected from a recent 
treatise on that subject : 

" In the town of Bury, England, with an estimated 
population of twenty-five thousand, the expenditure for 
beer and spirits, in the year 1836, was estimated at 
£54,190. If this was 24 per cent, of the entire loss, 
resulting from the waste of money, ill health, loss of 
labor, and the other evils attendant upon intoxication, 
what was the average loss from intemperance, for each 
man, woman, and child in the place, estimating the 
pound sterling at $4.80. Ans. $43,332." 

* In a former chapter, the necessity of moral and religious education 
was dwelt upon at length. The importance of the Scriptures as a text- 
book, containing as they do the only perfect code of morals known to 
man, and the objections sometimes urged against their use, were duly 
considered. I wish here simply to add, that their exclusion from our 
schools would be even more sectarian than their perverted use ; for 
the atheistical plan, which forbids the entrance of the Bible into multi- 
tudes of our schools, under the pretense of excluding sectarianism, shuts 
out Christianity, and establishes the influence of a single sect, that would 
dethrone the Creator, and break up every bond of social order. 



438 THE MEANS OF 

This one example may do more, in many instances, 
toward establishing young men who may be engaged 
in its solution in habits of total abstinence, than a score 
of lectures on temperance, or as many lessons on do- 
mestic or political economy. The following, also, may 
more effectually check existing abuses of some of the 
laws of health and longevity than a month's study of 
physiology and moral science : " It has been estimated 
that a man, in a properly ventilated room, can work 
twelve hours a day with no greater inconvenience than 
would be occasioned by ten hours' work in a room 
badly ventilated ; and that, where there is proper ven- 
tilation, a man may gain ten years' good labor on ac- 
count of unimpaired health. According to this esti- 
mate, what is the loss in thirty years to each individual 
in a badly-ventilated work-shop, valuing the labor at 
ten cents per hour? Ans. 85008." What an aston- 
ishing result ! Five thousand and eight dollars mon- 
eyed loss to each individual who respires impure air, 
estimating labor at but ten cents an hour. 

Now suppose this loss occurs only in the case of the 
eight hundred thousand adults in the United States 
who are unable to read and w T rite — and it must accrue 
to a much greater number of persons — and one fourth 
of the annual loss would be sufficient to maintain an effi- 
cient system of common schools in every state of the Un- 
ion the entire year. 

It has sometimes been said, even by individuals oc- 
cupying high stations in society, that persons of the 
second or third order of intellect make the best school- 
teachers. But in the light of what has been said, this 
statement needs but be made to prove its fallacy. In 
order properly to fill the teachers' office, we need men 
and women of the first order of intellect, brought to a 
high state of cultivation. A well-qualified and faithful 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 439 

school-teacher earns, and of right ought to receive, a 
salary equal to that paid to the clergyman, or received 
by the members of the other learned professions. He 
who can teach a good school can ordinarily engage 
with proportionate success in more lucrative pursuits. 
So true is this remark, that scarcely a man can be found 
that has attained to any considerable eminence as a 
teacher, who has not been repeatedly solicited, and per- 
haps strongly tempted, to relinquish teaching and engage 
in pursuits less laborious and more profitable. Many 
yield to this temptation, and hence much of the best 
talent has been attracted to the other professions. 
School committees, however, can generally secure the 
services of teachers of any grade of qualifications they 
desire, upon the simple condition of offering an adequate 
remuneration. 

We have said, as is the teacher so will be the school. 
We might add, as are the wages, so ordinarily is the 
teacher. Let it be understood that in any township, 
county, or state, a high order of teachers is called for, 
and that an adequate remuneration will be given, and 
the demand will be supplied. Well-qualified teachers 
will be called in from abroad until competent ones can 
be trained up at home. Here, as in other departments 
of labor, as is the demand, so will be the supply. 

The best means which citizens can employ to give 
character and stability to the vocation of the teacher 
is to select competent and worthy individuals to take 
the charge of their schools, and then pay them so lib- 
erally that they can have no pecuniary inducement to 
change their employment. Let this be generally done, 
and teaching will soon be raised, in public estimation, 
to the rank of a learned profession ; and the fourth 
learned profession — the vocation of the practical edu- 
cator — will be taken up for life by as great a propor- 



440 THE MEANS OF 

tion of men and women eminent for talent, cultivation, 
and moral worth, as either of the other three profes- 
sions have ever been able to boast. 



SCHOOLS SHOULD CONTINUE THROUGH THE YEAR. 

Schools should be kept open at least ten full months during the year ; 
in other words, the entire year, with the usual quarterly or semi-annual 
vacations. — Michigan School Report. 

It is not enough that good school-houses be provided 
and well-qualified teachers be employed. Oar schools 
should be kept open a sufficient length of time during 
the year to make their influence strongly and most fa- 
vorably felt. The work of instruction, while it is go- 
ing forward, should be the business of both teachers 
and scholars. If children are habituated to industry, 
to close application, to hard study, and to good person- 
al, social, and moral habits during the period of their 
attendance upon school, these habits will be favorably 
felt in after life, in the development of characters whose 
possessors will be at once respectable and useful mem- 
bers of society, and a blessing to the age in which they 
live. On the contrary, if children are allowed to at- 
tend an indifferent school three months during the year, 
to work three months, to play three months, and are 
permitted to spend the remaining three months in idle- 
ness, the influence of this course will be felt, and it will 
be likely to give character to their future lives. 

Under such circumstances, the good, if any, that chil- 
dren will receive while attending an indifferent school 
one fourth of the year, will be more than counterbal- 
anced by the evil influences that surround them during 
the half of the year they devote to play and idleness. 
We can not reasonably expect that children brought 
up under such unfavorable and distracting influences 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 441 

will become even respectable members of society, much 
less that they will be a blessing to the generation in 
which they live. 

In villages and densely-settled neighborhoods schools 
should be kept open at least ten full months during the 
year ; in other words, the entire yeai\ with the usual 
quarterly or semi-annual vacations ; and, if possible, 
they should not, under any circumstances, be continued 
less than eight months. And, I may add, the same 
teacher should be retained in the charge of a school, 
wherever practicable, from year to year. The teach- 
er occupies, for the time being, the place of the parent. 
But what kind of government and discipline should we 
•expect in a family where a new step-father or step- 
mother is introduced and invested with parental au- 
thority every six months, and where the children are 
left in orphanage half of the year ! Much more may 
we inquire, what kind of instruction and educational 
training may we reasonably expect in a large school 
whose wants are no better provided for ! A school- 
teacher should be selected with as great care as the 
minister of the parish ; and when selected, the services 
of the one should be continued as uninterruptedly and 
permanently as those of the other. Then will be beau- 
tifully illustrated this interesting truth : It is easier, 
cheaper, and pleasanter incomparably, and infinitely 
more effectual, rightly to train the rising generation, 
than it is to reform men grown old in sin. 

Lalor, in his prize essay on education, published ten 
years ago in London, has recorded a kindred sentiment 
in this very beautiful and highly-expressive language : 
" The school-master alone, going forth with the power 
of intelligence and a moral purpose among the infant 
minds of the community, can stop the flood of vice and 
crime at its source, by repressing in childhood those 

T 2 



442 THE MEANS OF 

wild passions which are its springs. Nay, often will 
the mature mind, hard as adamant against the terrors 
of the law and the contempt of society, be softened to 
tears of penitence by the innocence of its educated 
child speaking unconscious reproof." 



EVERY CHILD SHOULD ATTEND SCHOOL. 

The .plan of this nation was not, and is not, to see how many indi- 
viduals we can raise up who shall be distinguished, but to see how high, 
by free schools and free institutions, we can raise the great mass of 
population. — Rev. John Todd. 

I promised God that I would look upon every Prussian peasant child 
as a being who could complain of me before God if I did not provide 
for him the best education, as a man and a Christian, which it was pos- 
sible for me to provide. — School-counselor Dinter. 

Good school-houses maybe built, well-qualified teach- 
ers may be employed, and schools may be kept open 
the entire year, but all this will not secure the correct 
education of the people, unless those schools are pat- 
ronized ; patronized, not by a few persons, not by one 
half, or three fourths even of a community, but by the 
whole community. As was said in a former chapter, 
there is no safety but in the education of the masses. 
A few vile persons will taint and infect a whole neigh- 
borhood. In the graphic language of the Scriptures, 
One sinner destroyeth much good. 

The better portions of the community every where 
provide for the education of their children. If they 
are not instructed at home, they are sent to good 
schools, public or private, where their education is well 
looked after. Unfortunately, those children whose edu- 
cation is most neglected at home are the very ones, 
usually, that are sent least to school, and when at all, 
to the poorest schools. 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 443 

But how shall the evil in question be remedied? 
How shall we secure the attendance of children gen- 
erally at the schools, provided good ones are establish- 
ed ? In the first place, diligent effort should be made 
to arouse the public mind to an appreciation of the im- 
portance and necessity of universal attendance. This 
will go far toward remedying the evil. It should be 
made every where unpopular, and be regarded as dis- 
honorable in a member of our social compact, and un- 
worthy of a citizen of a free state, to bring up a child 
without giving him such an education as shall fit him 
for the discharge of the duties of an American citizen. 

But there is a portion of almost every community 
who feel hardly able to allow their children the neces- 
sary time to pursue an extended course of common 
school education, and who are really unable to clothe 
them properly, furnish them with useful books, and pay 
their tuition. This class, although comparatively small, 
is not unimportant. The legal provisions made for 
such children vary in different states. Wherever the 
free school principle is adopted, their tuition is of course 
provided for. This provision in some instances ex- 
tends further. The statutes of Michigan delating to 
primary schools make it the duty of the district board 
to exempt from the payment of teachers' wages not 
only, but from providing fuel for the use of the district, 
all such persons residing therein as in their opinion 
ought to be exempted, and to admit the children of such 
persons to the school free of charge not only, but the 
district board is authorized to purchase, at the expense 
of the district, such books as may be necessary for the 
use of children thus admitted by them to the district 
school. The entire expense incurred for tuition, fuel, 
and books, in such cases, is assumed by the district, 
and paid by a tax levied upon the property thereof. 



444 THE MEANS OF 

We have now arrived at an interesting crisis. We 
have exhausted the legal provision, generous as it is, 
and yet the blessing of universal education is not se- 
cured to those who will succeed us. Good schools 
may every where be established, in which the wealthy, 
and those in comfortable circumstances, may educate 
their children. Provision — yes, generous provision, 
though but just — has been made to meet the expense 
of tuition and books for the children of indigent parents. 
Still, they may not sufficiently appreciate an education 
to send their children ; or, if this be not so, they may 
keep them at home from motives of delicacy, being un- 
able to clothe them decently. How shall such cases 
be met ? How shall we actually bring such children 
into the peaceable possession and enjoyment of a good 
common school education, that rich legacy which no- 
ble-minded legislators have bequeathed to them, and 
which is the inalienable right of every son and daughter 
of this republic ? 

Legislation has already, in many of the states, done 
much — perhaps all that can be reasonably expected, at 
least, until a good common education shall be better 
appreciated by the community at large, and be ranked, 
as it ought to be, among the necessaries of life. The 
work, then, must be consummated chiefly by the united 
and well-directed efforts of benevolent and philanthrop- 
ic individuals. 

Benevolent females — and especially Christian moth- 
ers, who have long been pre-eminently distinguished 
for their successful efforts in protecting the innocent, 
administering to the wants of the necessitous, and re- 
claiming the wanderer from the paths of vice — have felt 
the claims of this innocent and unoffending portion of 
the community, and have, in some instances, organized 
themselves into associations to meet those claims. 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 445 

Benevolent and Christian females can doubtless ac- 
complish more, by visiting the poor and needy in their 
respective school districts, and making known unto 
them their privileges, and encouraging and assisting 
them, if need be, to avail themselves of these privileges, 
than by the same expenditure of time and means in any 
other way. They have long and very generally been 
accustomed to clothe the children of the destitute, and 
accompany them to the Sunday-school, and there teach 
them those things which pertain to their present and 
everlasting well-being, and have thus accomplished in- 
calculable good ; but by co-operating with the civil au- 
thorities in securing the attendance of every child in 
their respective districts at the improved common school, 
they can hardly fail to accomplish vastly more. 

Several associations have been formed for this noble 
purpose, and many children who, but for their fostering 
care, would have remained at their cheerless homes, 
have, by this labor of love, been sought out, properly 
cared for, and led to the common school, that fountain 
of intellectual life, and of social and moral culture, 
which is alike open to all. Gentlemen should every 
where encourage the formation of such associations, 
and, when formed, should offer every facility in their 
power to increase their usefulness. Clergymen might 
help forward such benevolent labors, where they are 
entered upon, by preaching occasionally from that good 
text, Help those women. 

But there are two classes of our fellow-citizens — per- 
haps I should say fellow-beings — who, notwithstanding 
the abundant legal provisions to which I have referred, 
and the utmost that the benevolent and philanthropic 
can accomplish by voluntary effort, will utterly refuse 
to give their children such an education as w T e have 
been contemplating. These are, first, men in comfort- 



446 THE MEANS OF 

able circumstances, who have so much blindness of 
mind, and such an utter disregard for the welfare of 
their offspring, as to deprive them of the advantages of 
even a common school education ; and, secondly, those 
who have such an obduracy of heart as absolutely to 
refuse to allow their children to attend school, and who, 
although the abundant provisions of the law are made 
known unto them, in meekness and love, by " man's 
guardian angel," prove utterly incorrigible. 

Such persons are unworthy to sustain the parental 
relation, and the safety of the community requires that 
the forfeiture be claimed, and that the right of control 
be transferred from such unnatural parents to the civil 
authorities ; for, as Kent says, " A parent who sends his 
son into the world uneducated, and without skill in any 
art or science, does a great injury to mankind as well 
as to his own family, for he defrauds the community of 
a useful citizen, and bequeaths to it a nuisance." How 
true is it that " the mobs, the riots, the burnings, the 
lynchings perpetrated by the men of the present day, 
are perpetrated because of their vicious or defective 
education when children! We see and feel the havoc 
and the ravage of their tiger passions now, when they 
are full grown, but it was years ago that they were 
whelped and suckled." 

In the very expressive language of Macaulay, the 
right to hang includes the right to educate. This is 
not a strange nor a new idea. It long ago entered into 
civil codes in the Old World not only, but in the New. 
In Prussia, when a parent refuses, without satisfactory 
excuse, to send his child to school the time required by 
law, he is cited before the court, tried, and, if he refuses 
compliance, the child is taken from him and sent to 
school, and the father to prison. 

Similar laws were enacted and enforced by our New 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 447 

England fathers more than two hundred years ago, 
which history informs us were attended with the most 
beneficial results.* Although their descendants of the 
present generation should blush for their degeneracy, 
still we should be encouraged from an increasing dis- 
position of late to return to these salutary restraints 
and needful checks upon ignorance and crime. Said 
the Honorable Josiah Quincy, Jr., late mayor of the 
city of Boston, in his inaugural address, " I hold that 
the state has a right to compel parents to take advan- 
tage of the means of educating their children. If it can 
punish them for crime, it should surely have the power 
of preventing them from committing it, by giving them 
the habits and the education that are the surest safe- 
guards." Similar sentiments have been recently pro- 
mulgated by the heads of the school departments of 
several states in their official reports, and by govern- 
ors in their annual messages ; and we have much rea- 
son for believing that the time is not distant when an 
enlightened public sentiment shall demand the re-enact- 
ment of these most salutary laws of our ancestors. 

Compulsory Attendance upon School. — Since the 
preceding paragraphs were prepared for the printer, 
the author has received the statutes and resolves of the 
Massachusetts Legislature of 1850, relating to educa- 
tion, which recognize the principle here contended for. 

* The following paragraph is from the Massachusetts Colony Laws 
of 1642 ; "Forasmuch as the good education of children is of singular 
behoof and benefit to any commonwealth, and whereas many parents 
and masters are too indolent and negligent of their duty in that kind, 
it is ordered that the select-men of every town in the several precincts 
and quarters, where they dwell, shall have a vigilant eye over their 
brethren and neighbors, to see, first, that none of them shall suffer so 
much barbarism in any of their families as not to teach, by themselves 
or others, their children and apprentices so much learning as may ena- 
ble them perfectly to read the English tongue, and knowledge of the 
capital laws, upon penalty of twenty shillings for each neglect therein." 



448 THE MEANS OF 

Each of the several cities and towns in that common- 
wealth is " authorized and empowered to make all 
needful provisions and arrangements concerning habit- 
ual truants, and children not attending school, without 
any regular and lawful occupation, growing up in igno- 
rance, between the ages of six and fifteen years ; and, 
also, all such ordinances and by-laws respecting such 
children as shall be deemed most conducive to their 
welfare and the good order of such city or town ; and 
there shall be annexed to such ordinances suitable pen- 
alties, not exceeding, for any one breach, a fine of 
twenty dollars." 

It is made the duty of the "several cities and towns 
availing themselves of the provisions of this act, to ap- 
point, at the annual meetings of said towns, or annu- 
ally by the mayor and aldermen of said cities, three 
or more persons, who alone shall be authorized to make 
the complaints, in every case of violation of said ordi- 
nances or by-laws, to the justice of the peace, or other 
judicial officer, who, by said ordinances, shall have 
jurisdiction in the matter, which persons thus appoint- 
ed shall alone have authority to carry into execution 
the judgments of said justices of the peace, or other 
judicial officer." 

It is further provided that "the said justices of the 
peace, or other judicial officer, shall, in all cases, at 
their discretion, in place of the fine aforesaid, be au- 
thorized to order children proved before them to be 
growing up in truancy, and without the benefit of the 
education provided for them by law, to be placed, for 
such periods of time as they may judge expedient, in 
such institution of instruction, or house of reformation, 
or other suitable situation, as may be assigned or pro- 
vided for the purpose in each city or town availing 
itself of the powers herein granted." 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 449 

This principle has been incorporated into several 
municipal codes. Children in the city of Boston, under 
sixteen years of age, whose " parents are dead, or, if 
living, do, from vice, or any other cause, neglect to pro- 
vide suitable employment for, or to exercise salutary 
control over" them, may be sent by the court to the 
house of reformation. By the late act, establishing the 
State Reform School, male convicts under sixteen years 
of age may be sent to this school from any part of the 
commonwealth, to be there "instructed in piety and 
morality, and in such branches of useful knowledge as 
shall be adapted to their age and capacity." The in- 
mates may be bound out ; but, in executing this part of 
their duty, the trustees "shall have scrupulous regard 
to the religious and moral character of those to whom 
they are bound, to the end that they may secure to the 
boys the benefit of a good example, and wholesome in- 
struction, and the sure means of improvement in virtue 
and knowledge, and thus the opportunity of becoming 
intelligent, moral, useful, and happy citizens of the com- 
monwealth." 

The Massachusetts State Reform School is designed 
to be a " school for the instruction, reformation, and 
employment of juvenile offenders." Any boy under 
sixteen years of age, " convicted of any offense punish- 
able by imprisonment other than for life," may be sen- 
tenced to this school. Here he may be kept during 
the term of his sentence ; or he may be bound out as 
an apprentice ; or, in case he proves incorrigible, he 
may be sent to prison, as he would originally have 
been but for the existence of this school. 

The buildings erected are sufficiently large for three 
hundred boys. Attached to the establishment is a large 
farm, the cost of all which, when the buildings are com- 
pleted and furnished, and the farm stocked and provided 



450 THE MEANS OF 

with agricultural implements, it is estimated will be 
about one hundred thousand dollars. A citizen of that 
state has given twenty-two thousand five hundred dol- 
lars to this institution, partly to defray past expenses 
and partly to form a fund for its future benefit. 

" In visiting this noble institution, one can not but 
think how closely it resembles, in spirit and in purpose, 
the mission of Him who came to seek and to save that 
which was lost ; and yet, in traversing its spacious 
halls and corridors, the echo of each footfall seems to 
say that one tenth part of its cost would have done 
more in the way of prevention than its whole amount 
can accomplish in the way of reclaiming, and would, 
besides, have saved a thousand pangs that have torn 
parental hearts, and a thousand more wounds in the 
hearts of the children themselves, which no human pow- 
er can ever wholly heal. When will the state learn that 
it is better to spend its units for prevention than tens 
and hundreds for remedy? How long must the state, 
like those same unfortunate children, suffer the punish- 
ment of their existence before it will be reformed V 

Kindred institutions have existed in several of our 
principal cities for a quarter of a century, among which 
are the House of Reformation for Juvenile Delinquents 
in New York, the House of Refuge in Philadelphia, 
and the House of^Reformation in Boston. Consider- 
ing the degradation of their parents, the absence of cor- 
rect early instruction, and the corrupting influences to 
which the children sent to these institutions have been 
exposed, becoming generally criminals before any ef- 
fort has been made by the humane for their correct ed- 
ucational training, one may well wonder at the success 
which has crowned the efforts that have been put forth 
in their behalf, for the greater part of them are effectu- 
ally and j)ermanently reformed. This, however, only 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 451 

shows more clearly the power of education, and the 
advantages that may be derived from the establishment 
and maintenance of improved common schools through- 
out our country. 

But how are these reforms effected? The means are 
simple, and are slightly different from those already de- 
scribed for the correct training of unoffending children. 
Take, for instance, the House of Reformation in the 
City of New York. In the first place, they have a 
good school-house, embracing nearly all the modern 
improvements. The yard and play-ground are of am- 
ple dimensions, and are inclosed by a substantial fence. 
This constitutes a barrier beyond which the children, 
once within, can not pass. But the clean gravel-walks, 
the beautiful shade-trees, the green grass-plats, the 
sparkling fountains, the ornamental flower-garden, all 
conspire to render the place delightful. It is, indeed, 
a prison in one sense, but the children seem hardly to 
know it. Then, again, well-qualified teachers and su- 
perintendents are employed. The spirit which actu- 
ates them is that of love. By proving themselves the 
friends of the children, the children become their friends, 
and are hence easily governed, considering their former 
neglect. Being well instructed, they love study, and 
generally make commendable progress. Their habits 
are regular, and they are constantly employed. A por- 
tion of the day is devoted to study ; another portion to 
industrial pursuits ; and still another to recreation and 
amusements. Strict obedience is required. This may 
be yielded at first from restraint, but ultimately from 
love. The love of kind and faithful teachers, the love 
of approving consciences, the love of right, the love of 
God, separately and conjointly influence them, until 
they can say ultimately of a truth, " The love of Christ 
constraineth usJ 



452 THE MEANS OF 

Their industrial habits are of incalculable benefit to 
them. They all learn some trade, and acquire the 
habits and the skill requisite to constitute them pro- 
ducers, and thus practically conform to this funda- 
mental law, " that if any man would not work, neither 
should he eatP The other conditions that have been 
stated as essential to success are also complied with, 
the scholars being kept under the influence of good 
teachers, and of the same teachers from year to yeai\ 
during their continuance in the institution. 

The well-qualified and eminently successful teacher 
who has long been connected with the Refuge in New 
York, in a late report says, "The habits of industry 
which the children here acquire will be of incalculable 
benefit to them through life. Yet we look upon the 
School Department as the greatest of all the means em- 
ployed to save our youthful charge from ignorance and 
vice. As it is the mind and the heart that are mostly 
depraved, so we must act mostly upon the mind and the 
heart to eradicate this depravity. 

" The education here is a moral education. We do 
endeavor, it is true, by all the powers we possess, to 
impress upon the mind the great importance of a good 
education ; and not only to impress it upon the mind, 
but to assist the mind to act, that it may obtain it. But 
our principal aim is to fan into life the almost dying 
spark of virtue, and kindle anew the moral feelings, 
that they may glow with fresh ardor, and shine forth 
again in the beauty of innocence. Our object is not to 
store the memory with facts, but to elevate the soul ; 
not to think for the children, but to teach them to think 
for themselves ; to describe the road, and put them in 
the way ; never to hint what they have been, nor what 
they are, but to point them continually to what they 
may be. 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 453 

" We feel assured that our labor will not be lost. 
Judging the future from the past, we are sanguine in 
our belief that our toils have left an impress upon the 
mind which time can not efface. Scarcely a week 
passes but our hearts are cheered and animated, and 
our eyes are gladdened at the sight of those whom we 
taught in by-gone years, who bid no fairer then to 
cheer us than those with whom we labor now. Yet 
they are saved — saved to themselves ; saved to so- 
ciety ; saved to their friends — who, but for this Refuge, 
would have poisoned the moral atmosphere of our land, 
and breathed around them more deadly effluvia than 
that of the fabled Upas." 

The success which has attended well-directed efforts 
for the reformation of juvenile delinquents, and evening 
free schools for the education of adults of all ages 
whose early education has been neglected, ought to 
inspire the friends of human improvement with in- 
creased confidence in the redeeming power of a cor- 
rect early education, such as every state in this Union 
may provide for all her children. When this confidence 
is begotten, and when a good common education comes 
to be generally regarded as the birth-right of every 
child in the community, then may the friends of free 
institutions and of indefinite human advancement look 
for the more speedy realization of their long-cherished 
hopes. For one generation the community must be 
doubly taxed — once in the reformation of juvenile de- 
linquents, and in the education of ignorant adults in 
evening schools, and again in the correct training of 
all our children in improved schools. This done, each 
succeeding generation will come upon the stage under 
more favorable circumstances than the preceding, and 
each present generation will be better prepared to ed- 
ucate that which is to follow, to the end of time. 



454 THE MEANS OF 



THE REDEEMING POWER OF COMMON SCHOOLS. 

If all our schools were under the charge of teachers possessing what 
I regai'd as the right intellectual and moral qualifications, and if all the 
childreu of the community were brought under the influence of these 
schools for ten months in the year, I think that the work of training up 
the whole community to intelligence and virtue would soon be ac- 
complished, as completely as any human end can be obtained by hu- 
man means. — Rev. Jacob Abbott. 

I might here introduce a vast amount of incontro- 
vertible evidence to show that, if the attendance of all 
the children in any commonwealth could be secured at 
such improved common schools as we have been con- 
templating for ten months during the year, from the age 
of four to that of sixteen years, they would prove com- 
petent to the removal of ninety-nine one hundredths of 
the evils with which society is now infested in one gen- 
eration, and that they would ultimately redeem the state 
from social vices and crimes. 

The Hon. Horace Mann, late Secretary of the Mas- 
sachusetts Board of Education, issued a circular in 1847, 
in which he raised the question now under considera- 
tion. This circular was sent out to a large number of 
the most experienced and reputable teachers in the 
Northern and Middle States, all of whom were pleased 
to reply to it. Each reply corroborates the position 
here stated ; and, taken together as a whole, they are 
entitled to implicit credence. The whole correspond- 
ence is too voluminous to be here exhibited ; I can not, 
however, forbear introducing a few illustrative pas- 
sages. 

Says Mr. Page, the late lamented principal of the 
New York State Normal School, "Could I be connect- 
ed with a school furnished with all the appliances you 
name ; where all the children should be constant attend- 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 455 

ants upon my instruction for a succession of years ; 
where all my fellow-teachers should be such as you 
suppose ; and where all the favorable influences de- 
scribed in your circular should surround me and cheer 
me, even with my moderate abilities as a teacher, I 
should scarcely expect, after the first generation sub- 
mitted to the experiment, to fail in a single case to se- 
cure the results you have named." 

Mr. Solomon Adams, of Boston, who has been en- 
gaged in the profession of teaching twenty-four years, 
remarks as follows : " Permit me to say that, in very 
many cases, after laboring long with individuals al- 
most against hope, and sometimes in a manner, too, 
which I can now see was not alwavs wise, I have 
never had a case which has not resulted in some good 
degree according to. my wishes. The many kind and 
voluntary testimonials given years afterward by per- 
sons who remembered that they were once my way- 
ward pupils, are among the pleasantest and most cheer- 
ing incidents of my life. So uniform have been the re- 
sults, when I have had a fair trial and time enough, that 
I have unhesitatingly adopted the motto, Never despair. 
Parents and teachers are apt to look for too speedy re- 
sults from the labors of the latter. The moral nature, 
like the intellectual and physical, is long and slow in 
reaching the full maturity of its strength. I was told 
a few years since by a person who knew the history 
of nearly all my pupils for the first five years of my 
labor, that not one of them had ever brought reproach 
upon himself or mortification upon friends by a bad life. 
I can not now look over the whole of my pupils, and 
find one who had been with me long enough to receive 
a decided impression, whose life is not honorable and 
useful. I find them in all the learned professions and 
in the various mechanical arts. I find my female pu- 



456 THE MEANS OF 

pils scattered as teachers through half the states of the 
Union, and as the wives and assistants of Christian mis- 
sionaries in every quarter of the globe. 

" So far, therefore, as my own experience goes, so 
far as my knowledge of the experience of others ex- 
tends, so far as the statistics of crime throw any light 
upon the subject, I confidently expect that ninety-nine 
in a hundred, and I think even more, with such means 
of education as you have supposed, and with such Di- 
vine favor as we are authorized to expect, would be- 
come good members of society, the supporters of or- 
der, and law, and truth, and justice, and all righteous- 
ness." 

The Rev. Jacob Abbott, who has been engaged in 
the practical duties of teaching for about ten years in 
the cities of Boston and New York, and who has had 
under his care about eight hundred pupils of both sex- 
es, and of all ages from four to twenty-five, has express- 
ed in a long letter the sentiment placed at the head of 
this section. " If all our schools were under the charge 
of teachers possessing what I regard as the right intel- 
lectual and moral qualifications, and if all the children 
of the community were brought under the influence of 
these schools for ten months in the year, I think the 
work of training up the whole community to intelli- 
gence and virtue would soon be accomplished as com- 
pletely as any human end can be obtained by human 
means." 

Mr. Roger S. Howard, of Vermont, who has been en- 
gaged in teaching about twenty years, remarks, among 
other things, as follows : " Judging from what I have 
seen and do know, if the conditions you have mention- 
ed were strictly complied with ; if the attendance of 
the scholars could be as universal, constant, and long- 
continued as you have stated ; if the teachers were 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 457 

men and women of those high intellectual and moral 
qualities — apt to teach, and devoted to their work, and 
favored with that blessing which the word and provi- 
dence of God teach us always to expect upon our hon- 
est, earnest, and well-directed efforts in so good a cause 
— on these conditions and under these circumstances, I 
do not hesitate to express the opinion that the failures 
need not be — would not be one per cent." 

Miss Catharine E. Beecher, of Brattleboro, Vermont, 
who has been engaged directly and personally as a 
teacher about fifteen years, in Hartford, Connecticut, 
and Cincinnati, Ohio, and who has had the charge of 
not less than a thousand pupils from every state in the 
Union, after stating these and other considerations, re- 
marks as follows : " I will now suppose that it could be 
so arranged that, in a given place, containing from ten 
to fifteen thousand inhabitants, in any part of the coun- 
try where I ever resided, all the children at the age of 
four shall be placed six hours a day, for twelve years, 
under the care of teachers having the same views that 
I have, and having received that course of training for 
their office that any state in this Union can secure to 
the teachers of its children. Let it be so arranged that 
all these children shall remain till sixteen under these 
teachers, and also that they shall spend their lives in 
this city, and I have no hesitation in saying I do not 
believe that one, no, not a single one, would fail of 
proving a respectable and prosperous member of so- 
ciety ; nay, more, I believe every one would, at the 
close of life, find admission into the world of endless 
peace and love. I say this solemnly, deliberately, and 
with the full belief that I am upheld by such imperfect 
experimental trials as I have made, or seen made by 
others ; but, more than this, that I am sustained by the 
authority of Heaven, which sets forth this grand palla- 

U 



458 THE MEANS OF 

dium of education, ' Train up a child in the way he 
should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it* 

" This sacred maxim surely sets the Divine impri- 
matur to the doctrine that all children can be trained up 
in the way they should go, and that, when so trained, 
they will not depart from it. Nor does it imply that 
education alone will secure eternal life without super- 
natural assistance ; but it points to the true method of 
securing this indispensable aid. 

" In this view of the case, I can command no lan- 
guage strong enough to express my infinite longings 
that my countrymen, who, as legislators, have the con- 
trol of the institutions, the laws, and the wealth of our 
physically prosperous nation, should be brought to see 
that they now have in their hands the power of securing 
to every child in the coming generation a life of virtue 
and usefulness here, and an eternity of perfected bliss 
hereafter. How, then, can I express, or imagine, the 
awful responsibility which rests upon them, and which 
hereafter they must bear before the great Judge of na- 
tions, if they suffer the present state of things to go on, 
bearing, as it does, thousands and hundreds of thou- 
sands of helpless children in our country to hopeless 
and irretrievable ruin !" 

Testimony similar to the preceding might be multi- 
plied to almost any extent. Enough, however, I trust, 
has been said to remove any doubts in relation to the 
redeeming power of education which the reader may 
have previously entertained. Universal education, we 
have seen, constitutes the most effectual and the only 
sure means of securing to individuals and communities, 
to states and nations, exemption from all avoidable evils 
of whatever kind, and the possession of a competency 
of this world's goods, with the ability and disposition 
so to enjoy them as most to augment human happiness. 



UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 459 

Yes, education, and nothing short of it, will dissipate the 
evils of ignorance ; it will greatly increase the produc- 
tiveness of labor, and make men more moral, industri- 
ous, and skillful, and thus diminish pauperism and crime, 
while at the same time it will indefinitely augment the 
sum total of human happiness. By diminishing the 
number of fatal accidents that are constantly occurring 
in every community, and securing to the rising gener- 
ation such judicious physical and moral treatment as 
shall give them sound minds in sound bodies, it will lay 
an unfailing foundation for general prosperity, will 
greatly promote longevity, and will thus, in both of 
these and in many other ways, do more to increase 
the population, wealth, and universal well-being of the 
thirty states of this Union than all other means of state 
policy combined. 

At the late Peace Convention at Paris to consider the 
practicability and necessity of a Congress of Nations 
to adjust national differences, composed of about fifteen 
hundred members, picked men from every Christian 
nation, Victor Hugo, the President of the Convention, 
on taking the chair, made an address that was received 
with great applause, in which the following passages 
occur : 

" A day will come when men will no longer bear 
arms one against the other ; when appeals will no 
longer be made to war, but to civilization ! The time 
will come when the cannon will be exhibited as an old 
instrument of torture, and wonder expressed how such 
a thing could have been used. A day, I say, will come 
when the United States of America and the United 
States of Europe will be seen extending to each other 
the hand of fellowship across the ocean, and when we 
shall have the happiness of seeing every where the 
majestic radiation of universal concord." 



460 THE MEANS OF UNIVERSAL EDUCATION. 

That such a time will come, every heart that glows 
with Christian benevolence must earnestly desire and 
fervently pray. But we can not hope to attain the end 
without the use of the necessary means. So glorious 
a result as this, that has become an object of universal 
desire throughout Christendom, must follow when the 
conditions upon which it depends are complied with. 
What these are there can be little room for doubt. Let, 
then, every friend of Universal Peace seek it in the use 
of the appropriate means — Universal Education. 

The same remark will apply to every form of Chris- 
tian benevolence and universal philanthropy ; for, as 
has been well remarked, in universal education, every 
"follower of God and friend of human kind" will find 
the only sure means of carrying forward that particular 
reform to which he is devoted. In whatever depart- 
ment of philanthropy he may be engaged, he will find 
that department to be only a segment of the great cir- 
cle of beneficence of which Universal Education is the 
center and circumference ; and that he can most suc- 
cessfully promote the permanent advancement of his 
most cherished interest in securing the establishment of, 
and attendance upon, Improved Schools Free to All. 



INDEX. 



Abbott, Rev. J., on the redeeming power of common schools, page 456. 

Abdominal Supporters, their use considered, 109. 

Academy, New York Free, 386. 

Accidents, cause and prevention of, 298. 

Adams, John Q., accustomed to the daily reading of the Scriptures, 222. 

Adams, Solomon, on the redeeming power of common schools, 455. 

Agriculture requires education for its successful prosecution, 269. 

Air, want of, causes death, 85. Necessary to purify the blood, 89. 
What composed of, 89. Quantity respired, 91, 93. How changed 
in respiration, 86, 89. Once respired will not sustain life, 91. Im- 
portance of to health, 98. Abundance of for man's use, 99. How 
freed from impurities, 100. Estimated loss of money and life from 
breathing impure, 299, 438. An excellent medicine, 108. 

Alcott, Dr., on breathing bad air, 103. 

Alphabet, how taught, 426. A better method, 426-427. 

Anecdote of the Indian, 203, 225. Of Laura Bridgman, 157-159. Of 
Dr. Franklin, 103. Of a practical teacher, 256. Of a German school- 
master, 416. Of a farmer plowing with three horses, 254. 

Apoplexy, how caused, 90, 92. Death by, 90, 93. 

Apparatus and Library, 398. May be useful to adults, 399, 400. 

Appurtenances to school-houses, 401. 

Arithmetic, often poorly taught, 433. Its morals, 437. 

Arts, the useful, require education, 272. Improvements made in the 
280, 282. How improvements are to be made in the, 285. 

Astrology believed in, to what extent, 234. 

Atmospheric impurities, 100, 101. May be detected, 104. 

Barnard, Hon. Henry, School Architecture by, 382. Testimony of, in 
relation to school libraries, 400. In relation to the external arrange- 
ments of school-houses, 402. 

Bartlett, H., testimony of in relation to the productiveness of labor, 264. 

Bathing, the importance of, 59. The luxury of, 59. The benefits of, 
60, 62. The time for, 61, 62. A preservative of health, 63. A good 
exercise, 80. 

Beecher, Miss Catharine E., quoted, 457. 

Benevolent females, means of usefulness of, 444. 

Bible, its use in schools, 209. Vote on, in the New York Legislature, 
219. What it has done for mankind, 222. 

Black Hole in Calcutta referred to, 96, 97. 

Blindness, hereditary, 36. How caused in schools, 182. Blind persons 
inferior, 124. Injured by inaction, 127. How taught, 150. 

Blood, circulation of the, 82. 

Bones, how injured, 68. Lengthened by habit, 72. 

Books furnished at the expense of the district, 443. 

Boxing the ears injurious, 171. 

Brain, the seat of the mind, 113. Its functions the highest in the ani- 



462 INDEX. 

mal economy, 113. Conditions of its healthy action, 114, 118, 121. 
How affected by bad air, 118. Requires exercise, 121. Seclusion 
injurious to, 122. Want of exercise of the, a cause of disease, 127. 
Effects of excessive activity of the, 128, 129. In childhood, 130- 
135. Rules for the exercise of the, 135, 137, 140, 143. 

Breath known to take fire, 86. 

Bull Fights an amusement in Spain, 228. 

California, state of agriculture and the arts in, 270. 

Capital punishment and compulsory attendance upon school, 446, 449. 

Carriage of the body important, 71. 

Celebrations, common school, recommended, 364. 

Character, how affected by associations, 142, 143, 405. 

Chest, how developed, 69, 79, 105, 106. Should not be compressed, 88. 

Children, seats for, 69. How deformed, 69. Should not be confined 
too long, 77. Rational treatment of, 77. 

Chylification, the process and necessity of, 50. 

Chymification, the second important step in digestion, 49. 

Circulation of the blood, 81. Two circulations, 83. 

Clark, John, testimony of, in relation to education and labor, 267. 

Cleanliness a virtue, 60. 

Clergymen, their relation to the primary schools, 414, 442. A text for, 
445. 

Clothing, office of, 64. Necessity of airing and changing, 65. 

Cold, how to prevent taking, 108. 

Combe, Dr., on bathing, 63. 

Confinement injurious to children, 77. 

Conflagration, general, how it may be produced, 320, 321. 

Consumption, hereditary, 87. How death caused by, 84. How pre- 
vented, 80, 106. Common among the deaf and dumb, 126. 

Conventions, educational, recommended, 364. 

Costiveness, effects of, 53. How prevented, 54. 

Crime diminished by education, 286. Statistics of, 295. Expense of, 
358. 

Deaf and dumb, why inferior to other persons, 125. 

Deafness, cause and cure of, 172. 

Digestion, process of, 48. 

Diseases, hereditary, 41, 114, 126. Caused by mental inactivity, 127. 

District libraries, 399, 400. 

District lyceum, how rendered useful, 400. 

Drawing an exercise in schools, 191. 

Drunkenness becomes constitutional, 41, 42. 

Dumb-bells, their use recommended, 105, 403. 

Ears, how injured, 171. 

Eclipses, a source of alarm to the ignorant and superstitious, 233. 

Education, in what it consists, 13. Not finished in schools, 18. Should 
have reference to man's future existence, 19. Not limited to man's 
physical powers, 24. Not limited to his intellectual powers, 25. 
Not limited to his moral powers, 26. Physically considered, 28. In- 
tellectual and moral, 111. Of the five senses, 146. Necessity of 
moral and religious, 193. The importance of, 225. It dissipates the 
evils of ignorance, 226, 242. It increases the productiveness of labor, 
253. Necessary for females, 268, 279. It diminishes pauperism and 
crime, 286. It improves the moral habits, 287, '288. It increases 



INDEX. 463 

human happiness, 311, 315. Degree of, in the United States, 337. 
Existing provisions for, 343. The means of rendering its blessings 
universal, 362. 

Educational department, the state should maintain an, 370. 

Emerson, Geurge B., quoted, 408. 

Epidemics arrested by ventilation, 101. 

Evacuation, importance of, to the preservation of health, 53. 

Evening schools for adults, 453. 

Exercise, effects of, 74. When not to be taken, 75. Other laws of, 77. 
Should be taken regularly, 78. 

Experiment on breathing air, 91. In visiting a school, 96. In plow- 
ing with three horses, 254. 

Eye, description of the, 175. Its sympathy with the other bodily or- 
gans, 184. Rational care of the, 180-192. See Sight. 

Factories, labor in, requires education to render it productive, 261-269. 

School teachers employed in, 268. 
Failures in business accounted for in certain cases, 140, 141. 
Farming requires knowledge, 269. Illustrative anecdote, 254. In 

California, 270. 
Females, benevolent and Christian, their relation to the primary school, 

442, 444, 445. 
Fortune-telling practiced in Great Britain and in the United States, 234. 
Fracture of the skull, cases of, referred to, 129. 
France infidel — the United States Christian, 204. 
Franklin's Methusalem, 103. 
Free Academy, New York, 386. 

Freezing of water, law of, illustrates the beneficence of God, 221-223. 
French ladies, posture of, 71. 
Friday and other unlucky days, 236-238. 
Funds for the support of schools, 366. When useful, 369. 

General conflagration may be produced by the decomposition of air or 

water, 321. 
Geography, how taught in many schools, 432. 
Gestation, state of the mother during, affects the health and happiness 

of the offspring, 116, 117. 
Grain, influence of the moon on the growth of, 250. 
Greeley, Horace, extract from Address of, on free schools, 267. 

Habits, mental and physical, how formed, 140. 

Happiness increased by education, 311. 

Health, laws of, 44-81. 

Hearing, the sense of, 169. How improved, 171. How injured, 171 

Cultivation of, 172-174. 
Hereditary diseases, 41, 115. 
Hot-bed system of education, 130-135. 
House of Refuge for juvenile delinquents, 450-458. 
Howard, Roger S., on the redeeming power of common schools, 456. 
Howe, Dr. Samuel G., on the importance of physical education, 36. 
Humphrey, Dr., on moral and religious training, 194. 
Hypocrisy, why unsuccessful, 142. 

Idiocy, extent of, 301. Causes of, 302, 303, 409. 

Idiots, who are, in law, 151. Condition of, 304. May be educated, 
300, 307. 



464 INDEX. 

Ignorance, its effects considered, 230. Of the correct treatment of 

children, 133. Man in a state of, 311. 
Indians never have consumption, 109. Anecdote of an, 203, 225. 
Indigestion caused by mental anxiety, 137. 
Inhaling tubes, their use considered, 109, 110. 
Insanity, how caused, 126, 138, 308, 409. 
Instruction, modes of, extensively practiced, 425. 
Insurance of property, the best modes of, 266, 267. 
Intellectual education, its nature, 111. 
Intemperance, hereditary, 41, 42. A cause of idiocy, 302. Expense 

of, in this country, 358, 360. See Breath. 
Intermarriages, influence of, on posterity, 115. 
Irritability of teachers accounted for, 120. 

Juvenile delinquents, provisions for, 449. 450. 

Knowledge essential to prosperity in agriculture, 269. Required in 
the useful arts, 272. See Education. 

Labor, education increases the productiveness of, 253. During rapid 
growth often injurious, 68. Of females in factories and in the do- 
mestic employments of the sex, 268, 279. 

Ladies in France, consequences of their erect posture, 71. 

Lardner, Dr., on popular fallacies, 246, 248. 

Laura Bridgman, the deaf, dumb, and blind girl, 148. 

Library and apparatus, 398. Township and district libraries, 399. 

Life, extensive loss of, how caused, 298. 

Lunacy, origin aud signification of, 251, 252. 

Lunar influences considered, 250. 

Lungs strengthened by reading aloud and singing, 79, 80. Blood 
changed in the, 85. Exhalations from the, 86. Absorption in the, 
87. Diseases of the, hereditary, 87. Exercise of the, a means of 
preventing disease, 105. When they should not be exercised, 107. 

Lyceums in districts, how rendered popular and useful, 400. 

Mann, Hon. Horace, referred to and quoted, 257, 328. 
Manufactories, to be productive, require educated workmen, 261—269. 

Education of children employed in, 278. 
Marriage of relatives a cause of consumption, 126. A cause of idiocy. 

303, 304. 
Mastication, importance of, to digestion, 48. 
Masturbation, 409. See Secret Vice. 
Meals, proper time for partaking of, 55. 
Measures, a system of, for schools, 188, 404. 

Mills, James K., testimony of, in relation to education and labor, 261. 
Mind, laws of, 111, 112. See Brain. 
Moral education, its nature, 111. Necessity of, 193. Want of, a cause 

of insanity, 309. Should be pursued practically, 435. 
Moon, its influence on the weather, 248. 
Mortality, cause and extent of, among infants, 298-300. 
Muscles, how they act, 72. Of the eye, 179. See Exercise. 
Music, vocal, a branch of education in Germany, 80. 

National education, political necessity of, 325. Degree of, in this coun- 
try. 337. Provisions for, 343. Practicability of, 353. The means 
of, 362-460. 



INDEX. 465 

Natural philosophy, the mode of teaching, 434. 
Navigation among the ignorant and educated, 257. 
Nerves, sensibility of the, 161, 162. See Brain. 
New York, Free Academy, 386. Public Schools in, 386, 434. 
Normal Schools, necessity for, 421-440. 

Oliver Caswell, the deaf, dumb, and blind boy, 159. 
Onanism, 409. See Secret Vice. 

Page, D. P., on the redeeming power of common schools, 454. 
Parents, the natural educators of their children, 411. Vicious, some- 
times reformed by school children, 441. 
Pauperism, diminished by education, 286. Extent of, in New York, 

358. Expense of maintaining, 358. 
Peace convention at Paris referred to, 459. 
Petulancy in teachers and others accounted for, 94, 120. 
Physical education, importance of, 28. A preventive of disease, 34. 

The only correct basis for intellectual and moral, 32, 111. 
Physician, his office and that of the clergyman compared, 34. How he 

may be most useful in his profession, 34, 35. 
Physiology, made by law a study in common schools, 61. Lectures 

upon, by school teachers, 61. 
Play-rooms, important for small children, 403. 
Politics, definition of, 335. Should be a school study, 335. 
Politeness should be habitual, 142. 
Popular intelligence, degree of, in the United States, 337. Existing 

provisions for, 343. 
Poverty, extent of in Spain, 294. How diminished, 253, 286. 
Precocity of scrofulous and rickety children, 130. How they should be 

treated, 131, 132, 133. 
Pregnancy, the state of the mother during, influences the character of 

the child, 116, 117. 
Punishments, certain kinds injurious, 77, 171. See Capital Punishment. 
Purblind students, suggestions for, 185. 

Quincy, Hon. Josiah, Jr., on compulsory attendance upon school, 447. 

Reading aloud a healthful exercise, 79. How reading is frequently 

taught, 429. A better way, 430. 
Reading-room in connection with the school-house, 399. 
Recesses in schools should be frequent, 77. 
Reform school. See State Reform School. 
Regularity, in bodily exercise, 78. In mental exercise, 139. 
Relatives, consequences of the marriage of, 126, 303. 
Religion defined, 207. Of some kind unavoidable, 207. 
Religious education, the necessity for, 193. Should be reduced to 

practice, 435. 
Respiration, philosophy of, 81. 
Rickety children injured by study, 130. 
Riots, expense of, in Philadelphia, 357. 
Roman notation table, how taught, 428. A better way, 429. 
Rush, Dr., on the use of tobacco, 67. 

School funds, their utility considered, 366-369. 

School-houses, their common size, 92. Good ones should be provided, 
372 The condition of, 373. The location of, 379. Size and con 



466 INDEX. 

struction of, 382. For country districts, 383. For cities and villages^ 

385. Plans for, 387-389. Ventilation of, 390. Means of warming^ 

392. Appurtenances to, 401. Influence of, 405. 
Schools, the support of, 366. The redeeming power of, 454. Should 

continue through the year, 440. Every child should attend, 442. 

Compulsory attendance upon, 447. 
Scrofulous children injured by study, 130. Proper treatment of, 131, 

132. 
Seclusion from society injurious to both body and mind, 122. 
Secret vice, how increased, 405. How remedied, 407. Causes idiocy, 

insanity, and other evils, 409. 
See-saws, how rendered interesting and useful, 403. 
Senses, education of the, 146. Loss of the, impairs the health, 124, 

125. Loss of the, causes insanity, 126. General law concerning the, 

162. Their cultivation increases human happiness, 191. 
Shooting stars a source of terror to the ignorant, 234. 
Shoulder braces, their use considered, 109, 110. 
Sickness in school accounted for, 94, 95, 96, 119. 
Sight, the sense of, 175. Influence of tobacco and spectacles on the, 

186. How injured, and how preserved and improved, 180-186. 

How persons become near or long sighted, 183, 184. How the sight 

may be disciplined, 188. 
Skin, functions of the, 55. Cleanliness of, important, 59. 
Skull, cases of fracture of the, 129. 

Smell, the sense of, 165. Its uses, 167. How injured, 168. 
Snuff, its influence upon the sense of smell, 169. 
Spectacles, the use of, often injurious, 186. 
Sports, what kinds most advantageous, 79. 
State Reform School in Massachusetts, 449. 
Statistics of education in the United States, 337-351. 
Stooping, how induced, 70. Habitual, to be avoided, 70. 
Study, best time for, 138. See Brain. 
Sulphureted hydrogen gas poisonous, 102. 

Summary of important principles, 145, 286, 323, 361. Of improve- 
ments in the arts, 282. 

Taste, the sense of, its uses and abuses, 163-165. 

Teachers, why their health fails, 94-96. Employed in factories, 268. 
Their relation to the school, 410-440. Books for, 410. Tobacco 
used by, 417. Indulge in other evil practices, 417-420. Who make 
the best, 438. Qualifications of, 340, 350, 417, 420, 422. Institutes 
for, 420. 

Teaching, should be ranked among the learned professions, 412, 439. 
Compared with the practice of law, 413. With the business of leg- 
islation, 413. With the practice of medicine, 414. With the clerical 
profession, 414. 

Teeth, their relation to health, 65. How to preserve them, 65. Acids 
injurious to them, 66. Tobacco not a preservative of, 66. 

Timber, time for felling, 248. 

Tobacco, its use tends to drunkenness, 67. It impairs the sight, 186 
Used by teachers, 417. Used by ministers, 417, 418. A lady's in 
quiry concerning the use of, 419. The use of, expensive, 420. 

Touch, sense of, 160. How improved, 161. 

Township libraries instead of district libraries, 399. 

Truancy, legal provisions concerning, 447-450. 



INDEX. 467 

Union or graded schools, 384. They should possess a normal charac- 
teristic, 433. 

United States, the, a Christian nation, 204. See France. 

Universal education. See Education, National Education, and Free 
Schools. 

Unlucky days in Scotland, 236. In the United States, 237. 

Vaccination, how effected, 59. 

Ventilation, necessity of, 91-99. Of clothing, 57, 64. Means of, 390, 

397. 
Vocal gymnastics, influence of, 107. 
Vocal music useful as an exercise, 80. Dr. Bush's testimony quoted, 

80. Should be introduced into all our schools, 107. 

Walking, not the best exercise, 78. How rendered most beneficial, 78. 

Washington, quotation from Farewell Address of, 221 

Waste, the cause of, 44. The repair of, 47. 

Water, the freezing of, illustrates the beneficence of God, 321-323. 

Watson, Rev. James V., on the providence of God, 62. 

Weather, does the moon influence the, 248. 

Weights and measures for school apparatus, 404. See Measures. 

Witchcraft in England and New England, 240. 

Young, the Hon. Samuel, on the use of the Bible in schools, 220. 



THE END. 



468 MAYHEW ON POPULAR EDUCATION. 

Popular Education is the title of a volume by Ira Mayhew, 
prepared in accordance with a resolution of the Legislature of 
Michigan, and discussing the subject, in its multifarious aspects 
and relations, with a thoroughness, discrimination, and ability 
which cannot fail to make it a work of Standard Authority in 
the department to which it is devoted. The author has been 
Superintendent of Public Instruction in the State of Michigan ; 
his official position has put him in possession of a great amount 
of facts and statistics in relation to this subject ; he is inspired 
with a noble zeal in the cause of education ; and in the pro- 
duction of this volume has given commendable proof of his 
industry, good sense, and thorough acquaintance with an interest 
on which he rightly judges that the future prosperity of the 
American Republic essentially depends. — Harper s Magazine. 



We find that, for worth and ability, this work even surpasses 
our anticipations. It has no superior in point of plain, practi- 
cal good sense ; while it more fully, and as ably, discusses the 
general bearings of universal education, as any that has yet 
appeared. It is truly a masterly exposition of the subject of 
Popular Education, as applied to the individual and associated 
interests of our people. It is not of worth to the teacher alone, 
but is of such a character as to make it of the first importance 
that every school and family library be supplied with a copy. 
Discussing, as it does, the genera] subject of education, it is 
peculiarly the work to be studied by the whole people. It must 
meet with a very wide circulation, as it ought ; especially will 
every friend of education secure a copy. — Journal of Education. 



This book should be in every house, and its contents in every 
head. Those who have read and digested its contents have 
made a most important step toward a " finished education," 
by having learned what the term means. The author takes a 
philosophic, and at the same time a clear and practical common- 
sense view of his subject. He is evidently acquainted not only 
with general theories of education, but also with the minute 
details of teaching. His plans of school-houses are admirable, 



NOTICES OF THE FERST EDITION. 469 

and his instructions to teachers minute and comprehensive. — 
Pittsburg Saturday Visitor. 



The high position which Mr. Mayhew occupies ; his well- 
known talents as a writer and a lecturer ; and his devotedness 
to the cause of education, have caused the people of America 
to wait with considerable anxiety the publication of a work, the 
preparation of which was undertaken in accordance with a reso- 
lution of the House of Representatives. This work is prepared 
for the use of parents and teachers, and for young persons of 
both sexes ; and a careful perusal of its pages will satisfy the 
reader that this, the most important subject which can engage 
the attention of all classes of society, is ably treated, and that 
the work is well adapted to the end for which it is intended. 
So persuasive is the style, so convincing are the facts adduced, 
and so reasonable and philosophic are the arguments by which 
the subject is enforced, that no one can read this work without 
being deeply impressed with the truth, that the adoption of so 
rational and philosophic a system of physical, moral, intellectual, 
and religious education would be happily conducive to the best 
interests of society, and would mark an epoch in the world's 
history. — Toronto Globe. 



We have given this work, which was laid upon our table 
some days since, a careful perusal, and most amply have we 
been repaid for our labor. "We regard it as one of the most 
interesting and instructive works on Popular Education now 
extant. We also find that it is so regarded by many of the 
most noted scientific men and practical educators of the country. 
To show the number of important and highly interesting topics 
discussed in its pages, we give the following brief synopsis of its 
contents : * * * Those who are personally acquainted with Mr. 
Mayhew, and witnessed his practical zeal in the cause of Edu- 
cation while Superintendent of Public Instruction, need not 
perhaps be told that on all these subjects he is perfectly "at 
home''' To those who are not acquainted with the author and 
his former labors, we can only say — " Procure a volume and 
see for yourselves." It is a book which should find its way to 



470 MATHEW ON POPULAR EDUCATION. 

the hands of every parent and teacher, as well as pupils of both 
sexes. — Adrian Watch Tower. 



The author of this treatise was recently Superintendent of 
Public Instruction in the State of Michigan, and in this capa- 
city investigated very closely the subject of education. The 
results of his reflections and inquiries are embodied in the vol- 
ume before us, which is certainly the most complete, elaborate, 
and practical disquisition on education we have yet seen. 
Much attention is paid by the author to physical education and 
moral training — branches of the system which are too often 
neglected, or made wholly subservient to intellectual cultiva- 
tion. We commend the book to those who are interested in a 
subject of such paramount importance. — New Orleans Bee. 



This is a highly instructive and useful volume. It embodies 
a vast amount of statistical information, sound reasoning, and 
judicious counsel. The subject of Popular Education is pre- 
sented in reference to the whole man — the body, the mind, and 
the heart. It cannot be read without profit by those classes of 
persons to whom it is addressed. — Southern Literary Gazette. 



We know of no practical work that has given us so much 
pleasure as il May hew on Popular Education" We admit we 
have a sort of god-father liking for it, from associations of the 
past, when, as one of the servants of the commonwealth, we 
favored the passage of the resolution by the Legislature recom- 
mending its publication. Our confidence in the ex-Superintend- 
ent of Public Instruction was manifested at that time, and the 
work now before us, we are frank to say, is much more valuable 
than we had anticipated. Mr. Mayhew's views of education 
are of such a sound, practical, common sense order, that they 
cannot fail to receive the attention of the country in this age of 
progress. — Monthly Hesperian. 



The influence which works of this character exert cannot be 
over-estimated. We feel confident that no person interested in 
the subject can peruse this volume without obtaining new 



NOTICES OF THE FIRST EDITION. 471 

views of his duties toward his offspring, and of the means 
which should be employed to advance their moral and intel- 
lectual welfare. — Boston Journal. 



A valuable treatise on the subject to which it is devoted, 
discussing it, in its various details, with great comprehensiveness 
of view, with a rich copiousness of illustration, and with excel- 
lent common sense. Without aiming at an unprofitable origi- 
nality, the author has availed himself freely of the best materials 
furnished by eminent writers, but has molded them into a 
shape bearing the impress of his own mind, and vivified and 
enriched throughout by the action of his personal experience 
and reflection. This volume deserves an extensive perusal, and 
cannot fail to exert a good influence on the cause of Popular 
Education. — New York Tribune. 



This work should be in the hands of every parent in Michi- 
gan, who regards his own welfare, that of his children, or the 
future well-being of his country. The plain common sense 
man who takes it up and reads it at his clean and quiet hearth, 
will find it philosophical, but not abstruse, and will meet in it 
no line or word that he cannot fully comprehend, and will be 
startled in it by no attempt at pedantry or display of learning ; 
it exhibits the results of learning, not its machinery. Let all 
such buy and read it, depending upon it that they cannot bet- 
ter charm the ears of the wife and children, through a winter's 
evening, than by reading to them aloud from its pages. — 
Detroit Advertiser. 



This valuable work has been some time before the public, 
but like other Standard Productions, it is rising in esteem the 
longer it is known. During the last fifteen months, we have 
consulted no work of the kind, as a book of reference, so fre- 
quently, and always with a higher idea of its value, as a digest 
of facts and statistics. — Ohio Journal of -Education. 



Three or four chapters, at the commencement of the book, 
are devoted to the subject of physical education and the edu- 



472 MATHEW ON POPULAR EDUCATION. 

cation of the senses. These are topics of great importance, but 
so generally neglected that the earnestness with which the 
author dwells upon them, and the excellent practical precepts 
he lays down, gives the work a peculiar value in our eyes. — 
LittelVs Living Age. 

No greater service could be done to the commonwealth than 
to put a copy of this work into every one of its families. The 
township libraries will of course be replenished with it, every 
one of them. — Michigan Farmer. 



We have been highly interested and profited by a careful 
perusal of its pages. It is designed for parents and teachers, 
and for young persons of both sexes. Mr. Mayhew's name is 
intimately identified with the cause of Popular Education in 
this country, and we believe that in the production of this 
work he has furnished to the world an enduring monument of 
his enlightened zeal and rare talents, so freely and effectually 
devoted to the cause of public instruction. — Teachers' Manual. 



Mr. May'hew's opinions are sound, and they are communi- 
cated in an agreeable manner. The book is a useful manual 
for all persons concerned in education. — Montreal Pilot. 



Well-written books of this class cannot be multiplied too 
much. * * * We are glad to see that several chapters are 
devoted to physical education, a matter in which the Ameri- 
cans, as a people, are far behind the European world. We 
commend the work, not merely as a useful manual for teachers 
and school committees, but as one to be read by the people 
— every man, woman, and child of whom is interested in the 
subject of which it treats. — Methodist Quarterly Review. 



From nearly every chapter of this volume, it would be easy 
to extract passages which would both adorn and enrich the 
pages of a Christian Review ; but we shall render the public a 
better service, by commending, as most conscientiously and 
earnestly we do, the wide circulation and thorough study of the 



NOTICES OF THE FIEST EDITION. 473 

book itself. It may properly be regarded as a family book, 
furnishing an amount of varied instruction and entertainment to 
the intelligent households of our countrymen for which they 
will be sincerely grateful. Legislators, school committees, and 
especially teachers of every grade, will also find it invaluaWe. 
The worthy author, having devoted half a score years of the 
vigor of his life to the promotion of the great work of Popular 
Education, partly in New York, and more recently in Michigan, 
was prepared, as no mere theorist could be, to develop and ap- 
ply the principles which underlie this system of youthful train- 
ing. — Christian Quarterly Review. 



Mr. May hew is a clear-headed, intelligent man, and has 
written a sensible book on Education. His views on the im- 
portance of harmony in physical, intellectual, and moral train- 
ing, are judicious and well expressed. * * * On the whole 
subject of Christian education, distinctively as such, without 
which all other culture would be worse than useless, the public 
sentiment needs to be corrected. — Church Quarterly Review. 



This is a most able and elaborate treatise, embracing physi- 
cal, moral, and intellectual education, with the proper training 
of the five senses. It is the philosophy of the free-school sys- 
tem, and should be widely read. — Democratic Quarterly Review. 



Opinion of Joseph McKeen, LL. D., Superintendent of Common Schools for the City 
and County of New York, and Editor of the New York Journal of Education. 

We have read most of the works of this character which have 
been published in this country, and while we feel that compari- 
sons are commonly odious, we are free to acknowledge that we 
have not before read a book which so ably discusses almost 
every topic connected with Popular Education; such as the 
laws of health, the philosophy of respiration, the training of 
the senses, moral and religious education, evils of ignorance, 
productiveness of labor, pauperism and crime, increase of hap- 
piness, the political necessity and practicability of national edu- 
cation, school-houses, teachers, and the redeeming power of 
common schools. It constitutes a Standard Work. Take it as a 



474: MAYHEW ON POPULAR EDUCATION. 

whole, we have never before seen its equal. It should be in 
every school library. 

Opinion of the Eev. Dr. Comstock, formerly Chaplain to Congress, Superintendent of 
* Public Instruction in the State of Michigan, etc., etc. 

Hon. Ira Mathew, Marshall, Feb. 27, 1851. 

Dear Sir : — I have examined your book on Popular Educa- 
tion, and cheerfully accord to it my entire approbation. It is 
admirably calculated to advance the best interests of the present 
and coming generations. Hence, I hope it may be universally 
read, and duly regarded. Its highly interesting facts, just prin- 
ciples, correct reasoning, and pleasing style, must secure for it 
an extensive patronage. It should be found in every family 

IN EVERY LIBRARY, PRIVATE AND PUBLIC, AND SHOULD BE 

STUDIED IN ALL OUR SCHOOLS OF LEARNING. 

Wishing you much prosperity in your career of usefulness 
and honor, I am, dear sir, with high regard, 

Your affectionate friend, 0. C. COMSTOCK. 



This work has likewise been endorsed, in terms equally 
strong with the preceding, by Dr. Isaac Sams, President of 
the Ohio State Teachers' Association ; by J. W. Bulkley, Esq., 
President of the New York State Teachers' Association ; by 
Samuel Barstow and D. Bethune Duffield, Esqs., President 
and Secretary of the Board of Education of the City of Detroit ; 
by the Rev. D. D. Whedon, D.D., the Rev. J. Holmes Agnew, 
A.M., and Louis Fasquelle, LL. D., professors in the Univer- 
sity of Michigan ; as well as by several of the Regents of that 
institution, and a large number of eminent practical educa- 
tors in various portions of the Union. 



MAYHEW'S PRACTICAL BOOK-KEEPING, 

BY SINGLE AND DOUBLE ENTRY, 

With a Set of Account Books to be used by the Learner in writing up 

the Examples for Practice contained in the Book-keeping, and 

a Key for Teachers, containing their Solution. 

BY IRA MAYHEW, A.M., 

Author of a Treatise on Popular Education. 



PUBLISHED BY D. BURGESS AND CO., 60 JOHN STREET, NEW YORK. 



The title of this volume — Practical Book-keeping — is indica- 
tive of its leading characteristics. The specimens of accounts 
presented in it are in script, that closely resembles writing, and 
they hence afford excellent models for imitation. The book 
contains four forms of accounts, immediately following each of 
which are a large number of examples for practice. In their 
solution, the pupil has occasion practically to apply the know- 
ledge he has already acquired of both arithmetic and penman- 
ship, while at the same time he learns book-keeping as he will 
have occasion to practice it in after life. That this treatise 
ought to be as extensively studied in all our schools, as arithme- 
tic, grammar, and geography now are, is a commonly received 
opinion among practical educators to whom it has become 
known. 

As an illustration of the truth of this statement, it is sufficient 
to allude to the fact that this work has been strongly recom- 
mended by the principal book-keepers of extensive business- 
houses in New York; by the Superintendent of Common 
Schools for the city and county of New York ; by the Princi- 
pal of the New York Free Academy ; by the principals of the 
public schools generally, and of all the ward schools in the 
city and county of New York ; by the principals of all the pub- 
lic schools of the cities of Brooklyn and Williamsburgh, and by 



476 MAYHEW'S PRACTICAL BOOK-KEEPING. 

the teachers generally of other schools, both public and pri- 
vate, to whose knowledge it has been brought. 

Such unanimity and strength of testimony, including the 
principals of all the public schools of these three cities, is un- 
precedented ; and still this work has been received with equal 
favor wherever it has become knoivn. It will be observed, also, 
that teachers, who have tested this work in the school-room, 
bear the strongest and most cordial testimony in its favor. 

The Board of Education of the cities of Brooklyn, Newark, 
and New Orleans, have unanimously adopted this work for 
general use in their public schools. Since its publication, also, 
the Board of Education of the city of New York has ordered 
that book-keeping be studied in the public schools of that city, 
by all candidates for admission to the Free Academy ; and the 
first order of the Committee on Supplies, calls for Seven Hun- 
dred and Fifty copies of Mayhew's Book-keeping, and for only 
seventy-five of any other. 



Testimonials from the City of New York. 

After a careful examination of Mayhew's Practical Book- 
keeping, we unhesitatingly express the opinion that it unfolds the 
elements of the science in a most concise and lucid manner. 
We deem it admirably adapted to meet the wants of the young 
accountant ; especially will it be found well planned and hap- 
pily executed, as a text-book for the instruction of classes in 
school. The solution and writing up of its numerous exam- 
ples for the exercise of the learner, cannot fail to give him a 
more practical knowledge of accounts than has hitherto been 
attained out of the counting-room. 

G. L. Demarest, with Harper & Brothers, 
Book-Publishers, 329 & 331 Pearl-street, N. Y. 

George A. Mayhew, with Piatt & Brother, 
Importers and Manufacturers of Watches, Jewelry, and Fancy 
Goods, 20 Maiden Lane, N. Y. 



I have examined with considerable attention " Mayhew's 
Practical Book-keeping," designed to be used in the instruc- 



OPINIONS OF PRACTICAL EDUCATORS. 477 

tion of common schools. It is better adapted, in my judgment, 
to the ordinary business of the great majority of the people of 
our country than any treatise that has hitherto been used. It 
is calculated to bring into use the knowledge the pupil has ac 
quired of arithmetic and penmanship. It furnishes a syste- 
matic method for the transaction of the common business of 
life, and cannot fail, I think, to be received with favor by 
teachers and others throughout the country. I feel greatly 
disposed to favor its use. 

JOSEPH McKEEN, LL. D., 
Sup't Com. Schools, City and County of New York. 



This work appears to have been carefully prepared, philo- 
sophically arranged, and is well adapted to answer the end in 
view. It is a pleasure, therefore, to the undersigned to recom- 
mend it to public favor. HORACE WEBSTER, LL. D. 

Principal of Free Academy, New York. 



This is the only really practical system of elementary Book- 
keeping, for the use of schools, that has ever fallen under my 
observation. Being brief, lucid, and comprehensive, it contains, 
under a variety of forms, all the general principles required to 
be known in recording ordinary mercantile transactions. Its 
extensive introduction into schools, will, in my opinion, confer a 
great blessing on popular education. 

After each series of explanatory exercises, every entry is a 
problem, that must be solved by the student before he can in- 
sert it ; yet all the solutions are so perspicuously illustrated by 
previous examples, as to leave no room for embarrassment. 
The whole " system" is a faithful transcript of the daily trans- 
actions of mercantile affairs, just as they occur in real business. 
The accounts to be entered resemble the verbal communica- 
tions, or written memoranda, usually made by the clerk, sales- 
man, or merchant, to his book-keeper, and delivered to him for 
insertion. 

The reason why persons and things become Dr. and Cr. ; the 
method of opening and closing personal and real accounts in the 
ledger only, or in connection with the day-book ; and the prac- 



478 MAYHEW'S PRACTICAL BOOK-KEEPING. 

tice of journalizing, posting, and balancing, are so concise and 
simplified, as greatly to facilitate the scholar's progress. At 
the same time there is no possibility of stealthily copying day- 
book, journal, and ledger entries ; for all these, with the neces- 
sary arithmetical calculations, must be honestly deduced from 
the knowledge obtained before commencing the " Examples for 
Practice." 

The specimen of a " Memorandum-book," is a novel and in- 
valuable appendage. The Blank-books also, which have been 
got up in the best manner, expressly for this system, are its 
indispensable companions. E. L. AVERY, 

Principal Ward School No. 27, N. T. 

[Mr. Avery is an experienced accountant, and has long been 
a successful teacher of book-keeping. The testimonial he here 
gives, is concurred in by twenty other principals.] 



I fully concur in the testimonial of Mr. E. L. Avery ; and, 
in addition, I would state that I introduced the work into my 
evening school about the middle of the late term. My pupils 
were delighted with it, and made more rapid progress in it 
than in any book I ever saw used. They liked the book because 
they understood it. Indeed, so little assistance did even the 
least advanced of my pupils require, that I deem the work truly 
entitled to be called, " Book-keeping without a master." 

WILLIAM P. MOSS, Jun., 
Principal Ward School No. 22, N. Y. 

[This testimonial is likewise concurred in by other principals.] 



Testimonials from the City of Newark, IV. J. 

I have examined Mayhew's Practical Book-keeping with much 
care and particular attention. This important subject is too 
much neglected in our public schools, and I am rejoiced that a 
book of so much merit is now placed within the reach of all. 

JNO. WHITEHEAD, 
Secretary of the Board of Education. 



OPINIONS OF PRACTICAL EDUCATOES. 479 

" Mayhew's Practical Book-keeping" proves to be all it 
assumes to be. We are pleased with it, and have a class of 
twenty-four now using it. S. CHASE, A. M., 

Principal of Newark Wesleyan Institute. 



Book-keeping, by double-entry, has long been a prominent 
and most useful study in my school ; but, to that form of ac- 
counts most useful to the farmer, mechanic, or retailer, I have 
usually devoted but little attention. About three months since 
I introduced "Mayhew's Practical System of Book-keeping." 
My pupils like the book. No class works more cheerfully, or 
profitably, than that which follows his practical examples, mak- 
ing the calculations and arranging them accurately, in business- 
like form. NATHAN HEDGES, 

Principal of Select and Commercial School. 



The preceding will serve as a specimen (and they are no more 
than a fair specimen) of a large number of testimonials the pub- 
lishers and author have received, and are almost daily in the 
receipt of, from merchants, booksellers, and all classes of busi- 
ness men ; as well as from professors in colleges, principals of 
academies for young men, seminaries for young ladies, and 
public high schools — in city, town, and country — from the East- 
ern, Middle, Southern, and Western States. And, as already 
remarked, it will be observed that teachers who have tested the 
work in the school-room bear the strongest and most cordial 
testimony in its favor. 



WW Mayhew's Practical Book-keeping, it is proper to add, has now 
(September, 1852) been published but ten months ; during which time 
three editions have been printed of fifteen thousand copies. Another 
edition will be issued immediately. 



3477 5 



